Recycled Bottle Suncatchers

"We have too much stuff in this garage!" Husband said as he navigated past my box of empty wine bottles in the garage. I haven't done anything clever with my impromptu bottle collection and the statue of limitations was up. I figured my next rainy day project would be clearing them out of the garage.

But before I could say "recycling bin" DecorArt sent me a very generous assortment of Americana glass paints and reusable stencils. Seriously, like the day after Husband and I had that conversation. Freaky.

I cut the bottoms off the empty flat bottomed bottles, stenciled them, and made recycled glass bottle sun catchers.

  

How to Make a Painted Bottle Sun Catcher

 You will need: 
Empty glass bottles

Glass bottle cutting kit
Rotary Tool
Rotary tool glass polishing bit
Safety glasses
Dust mask
Rubbing alcohol
Cotton balls
Assorted Americana glass paint - I'm using the 3D Opaque Glass Enamels, 3D Frost Glass Enamels, and Glass Stain
Americana Glass Enamels Reusable Stick On Stencils - Party Time, Floral, and Fun in the Sun
Dryer vent clamps
Flat head screwdriver
E6000 glue
Tin snips
Finishing line or wire
Scissors

Caution: You may want to wear a pair of gloves when handling cut glass. Please use caution because glass is sharp or have a bunch of bandages with you if you choose of your own free will not to.

It was a little addicting using different colors and combinations of Americana Opaque, Frost, and Glass Stain to make my painted glass sun catchers.

Tip: DecorArt has a buy five Americana Glass Paints, get a $5.00 rebate special if you like to experiment with glass paint too. Online purchases or sales items are not valid for this rebate offer. This rebate is valid for US consumers only.

Make it:

1. Use the bottle cutter kit to cut the bottom off the glass bottle.

It is difficult to cut a bottle with a perfect edge. Don't worry, we can fix that in Step 2.

2. Wearing the safety glassing and dust mask, use the rotary tool and glass polishing bit to polish the sharp edges of glass bottle until it is no longer sharp.

Warning: Breathing glass dust can cause serious health issues. 

No matter how uncool it looks wear the dust mask and safety 

glasses to protect your eyes and lungs, OK?

3. Clean the bottle bottom with rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball and set it aside to dry.

4. Place the stencil of your choice onto the cut bottle.

Press the edges down good and tight!

5. Paint the stencil with your choice of 3D Opaque Glass Enamels, 3D Frost Glass Enamels, or Glass Stain. I used the paint bottles with the writer tip for more control on the concave and uneven glass. If you are more comfortable with a brush, that works too.

I used Turquoise 3D Frost Gloss Enamel for the petals and 

Primary Yellow 3D Opaque Gloss Enamel for the center of the flower. 

Use a light hand and be careful not to glob a ton of paint onto the stencil like I did with the Purple Gloss Stain shown here. 

You will see my not so great globby results later on.

6. Remove the stencil while the paint is still wet and allow the paint to dry.

The 3D Frost Gloss Enamel will dry more opaque than the the 3D Opaque Gloss Enamel 

7.  Use the screwdriver to tighten the dryer vent clamp around the painted bottle bottom and glue it into place.

The Glass Stain makes the best see through sun catchers. 

This is what it looks like when you overload a stencil with paint - oops!

8. Use the tin snips to trim any excess metal from the vent clamp. I figured that one out after I didn't like the look of taping the tail down in the above sun catcher.

9. Use the scissors, fishing line or wire to hang to make and attach a hanging loop.

10. Hang it up and let the sunshine in!

 $100 Michael's Gift Card and DecoArt Glass Paint Giveaway!

I am pairing with a great group of bloggers to giveaway a $100 Michael's gift card and $100 worth of DecoArt products. Enter below!

  a  Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check out the great glass project from the best bloggers around!


Americana Glass Paints are available at Michaels, JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores, Pat Catan's Craft Centers, A.C. Moore, Beverly's, and other fine craft retailers. For more information on Americana Glass Paints visit http://www.decoart.com/glasspaint.


Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing to the Condo Blues RSS Feed or to Condo Blues by Email.

Disclosure: I received the sample products I used to create this project. This did not influence my opinion and as always, all opinions are 100% my own.