Chalky Painted Bottles

Live Love Paint. 

I opened my art studio, Coastal Bohemian in Myrtle Beach by happy accident . A friend asked me to share some space at his studio, (he knew I painted furniture out of my home), the space was perfect and I determined that I could afford the space if I taught Chalky Paint Classes.
In order to engage with customers I created a $10.00 painted bottle class. The class is so popular it sells out every time I teach it  at the Library.

Here's what you can do to get a funky chalky painted bottle.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a clean and label free bottle to recycle into an upcycled project.
I keep several on hand for those who forget to bring their bottle. 

Using Chalk Country Paint

apply two thin coats of paint to the bottle. You can cheat the dry time process by using a blow dryer. This also helps give some crackling effect to the paint and lends itself well to the overall vintage charm of the bottle .

After you have a nicely dried out bottle, and by this I mean it should be cooled to the touch after the blow drying process, we wax and buff the bottle with a dark brown wax .This gives the bottle some age and  sticks to the spaces in the paint. This is the look you are trying to achieve.
 I liken the final look to a bottle that may have been unearthed, maybe when you dug up a yard for a pool or  something that was excavated in Pompeii.(Imagine finding the lost city of Pompeii)  The point is you want something gritty here. 

Next for our images. Now you can use whatever images you like or want to create but to get a true vintage look I use images found at the Graphicsfairy.com. 

First you'll want to tear around the edges of your images. Now you are ready for a very cool trick . Using a chip brush coat the image with a coat of dark wax. Just a quick coat and just as quickly you'll remove the excess wax and buff the paper.(Old Rags work perfect here) This preserves the ink and keeps it from running when you adhere it to the bottle with Mod Podge.  

That's your next step. Lay the image down on a piece of scrap paper and paint a coating of Mod Podge making sure to get your edges.  Place your image on your bottle. Grab a piece of plastic wrap and place it on top of the image and gently apply the image , making sure to work out all the little air bubbles and being careful not to pick up Mod Podge and redistribute it on top of the image. You don't want to create a tackiness that lifts your image. The plastic wrap is a trick I learned from Patti at Upcycle with Decoupage. 

After the Mod Podge is dry you can add a layer of glue on top but I rarely do. (For this project you'll want to use the Matte Mod Podge.)

Next get out that glue gun and use up some of those scrap findings you have. Each bottle tends to be very unique.

Lastly, you' need to do the bottle shoot. Arrange those masterpieces and take some pics. Your friends will love them . Your family will swoon . 

These also make great gift for all the seasons since you can customize them with vintage themed graphics . I love these bottle so much . It makes me happy everytime I get to the bottle shoot. 

Have some fun with friends and family with an upcycle craft day. 
Thanks for reading along .
You can find me blogging around the internet all week here. 



With love and gratitude

Michele
Coastal Bohemian

If you are in Myrtle Beach come on down and visit us at the Coastal Bohemian Studio or check us out on Facebook, Pinterest , Instagram, or  G+ .