now that Mother's Day is past,
I can show the results
(these were gifts)
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these are the bottles before firing:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikKLicpB7pjlLmNTfGJ0fepYoopdlddld4D9-puD2P1uk90kC1Rpz3CXF1RYowVznfB_14bQkPznZ-iKWHvNA_vM5rkwiNtV74-Lug-6oUtfCF1UBoajm612IHnak82H-XF2zPSfMI_3o/s640/DSCN9294.JPG) |
(left) balsamic vinegar bottle (center) bacardi rum bottle (right) run of the mill wine bottle |
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the process
(known as "slumping)
involves heating the glass bottle in a kiln up to 1400 degrees
and then gradually bringing the temperature back down
doing this flattens the bottle nicely:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_4MRjrXbp0mGlE_r_qiD5S3_f2qTVieGfOsqUYZvr0P6UuZ9Xzp-0TcPrPP2oUNJWI9tj662G9q-TrIq1mCKo4bgTcspJZPE1B2GrwCdgWAV-O0NBZWiX1aaj6oPaHClZFq5du-N73TQ/s640/DSCN9304.JPG) |
(left) balsamic vinegar bottle (center) wine bottle (right) rum bottle |
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the fun part was decorating them:
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for the rum bottle, I decoupaged the reverse side with a postcard image and old book text
then I added the faux sailor knot around the top:
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for the wine bottle and the vinegar bottle,
I added copper wire and beads around the bottle neck
and I also wire wrapped a cheese knife
the wine bottle makes a perfect cheese plate:
if this looks like fun to you,
look for local ceramic or stained glass shops
sometimes the "paint your own" ceramics places have classes just for this
it's fun - and makes a great gift!