Upcycled Wine Bottles - Getting Those Labels Off 2.0!

I realized in my post the other day I left out something important; not all wine bottles have glued on labels! So what do you do when the next wine bottle you want to use has a label or barcode like this:

Since these labels are painted on it's easy to think you can't use them, either because you want just clear glass or because the label is so thick it'll show up even painted over. Well here is my little secret to getting painted labels and barcodes off bottles:

Vinegar!

Any white vinegar will do, this is just what I happened to have on hand. Here's how you do it:

Fill your sink or a pan with vinegar.

Place the bottle in a leave it to set for awhile. I 

like to work on other crafty things while waiting.

Since the vinegar wont be reusable (unless you can pour it back into the bottle)
 it's a good idea to save up bottles and do a whole bunch at a time.

You can test the bottle labels by wiping with a sponge.

If the label doesn't wipe away easily let it soak longer.

Here is the difference after about 3 minutes soaking.

Vinegar will also take any use by dates off if they are painted on.

Here the use by date has been wiped off.

Here is a bottle with the label, and one with the label 

wiped off.

Here you can see half the plane and wine name wiped away.

Once you wipe the label away, rinse the bottle with warm

water and dry it off. If the bottle is not rinsed, the vinegar will

dry on it with paint flecks and it will look dirty. If this happens

the bottle will need to be re-soaked in vinegar and wiped off again.

Now your bottle is ready to be turned into a beautiful piece of art!

Upcycled Wine Bottles - Getting Those Labels Off!

Ever looked at someone's upcycled wine bottle vase, or cut bottles made into glasses and thought 'Hey, I could do that!' So you save up some bottles, and one day you bring them out, ready to make something. You take them over to the sink to peel off the label and.... two hours later find yourself still peeling. I've been there, and I've tried everything to get the labels off. From using Goof Off, to hot water, to steaming the label, but none of these seem to work 100% of the time. Today I thought I'd show you how I get labels off of everything.

My secret is:

Yup, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, or any other brand of melamine foam cleaning sponge. Here's how I clean my bottles.

I get out a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Sponge,

Front

Spend a few seconds peeling off what I can off the label,

Back

Then I fill up the sink,

And run the label under the water.

Then I scrape the label with my thumb to get down to the glue.

This also gives more surface area for the sponge to reach.

Get the Magic Eraser wet,

And wash the label area, using pressure to get the glue off.

When finished before draining the sink clean all the label gunk out.

The label.

The bottle will be all clean! It takes about 2 minutes per bottle.

It will use up the sponge quite quickly, but it saves so much time peeling labels

that it's worth it for me to buy the sponges.

I hope this helps you complete your wine bottle project!

Behind On Everything

I know I said I was going to try to blog several times a week, but since I haven't been doing many art projects there hasn't been anything to blog about. But today there is!

Here is my latest bit of glass art:

Patron Chrome and Gold Candle Holders

I painted the bottles with a different technique and am very pleased with how different they turned out. Both are painted with the same two bottles of chrome and gold paint, but the first one looks almost like it has a coat of black flecks as well. Both of these will be going up on Etsy sometime today =)

Also my camera and printer should be arriving today, so there will be many more things to blog, like pictures of art and artistic pictures! I'm so exited to play with all the camera settings and have a photo printer! I'm sure I'll blog again soon with the first few pictures I take with my camera!

Finished Friday!

So what have I finished this week? Only one painting sadly, but I did manage to blow out and string a few more eggs for etching! I really need to move out to the country though, this whole 4 chickens per back yard thing (OK so I have 5, shhhhh!) is making for slow egg production. The fact that it's winter doesn't help either. But I digress, here's my finished painting:

This painting is a mixture of oil paints and oil pastels.

I don't have any pictures of my eggs, but there are about a dozen that are ready to be etched. And I do have a few more projects that are in the works. I can't wait until its warm outside again so I can spray paint again. 

In other news, I made it into another treasury on Etsy =) You can find it here, <3 My Whimsical heart <3. This is the piece that made it into the treasury: 

Butterfly Glass Candle Holder

I hope all your projects are going well this week!