Mini sack for wine bottles ... ...

I have finally completed a present for a family member, you'd think it would have been quick to sort out a bottle of wine, but not in this house.
Apart from spending the best part of 6 months actually brewing the wine (which is blackberry) I have made a metal label to hang round it (yes I wrote a post about it) I also spent some time designing a paper labels for the front and back of the bottle, and lastly I have made a mini sack for it.

I used an off cut of red velvet left over from the christmas stockings my wife has made for our kids (here's the blog post she wrote about them ---> velvet christmas sacks (opens in new window)

Here's the finished article -

A mini santa sack :-)

It was easy to make, even for me with my limited sewing machine skills, I had a rectangle of fabric, which I made into a little bag by sewing up the sides, I also made a tube ? (not up on sewing terminology) for the ribbon to run through.

And that's about it, took me a while to do, but I was taking it easy so as not to mess it up, I did add some little star shaped sequins for a little decoration (sewed them on by hand)

It's a nice thing (I would say that, I made it) but it will serve as a reminder, like the metal label and it can be reused for something else, maybe a small stocking for next year ? or some other use, either way it will be around for a while, long after the wine has been drunk and the bottle recycled.

Yes but it's a lot of effort for a bottle of wine, why not just shove it in a box ? well yes I could have, but making a little extra effort will make it more special, it is after all a bottle of wine to be drunk, but that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve a little effort.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great christmas, and all the best for 2011.

Wine bottle labels ... ...

This is an extension of my recent experiments in using the metal from drinks cans to make things, things like the wall hangings below.

Results of a recent experiment with metal from a drinks can -

An interesting use for an old can, if I do say so myself.

The first bottle label (it's not the finished item, more of a prototype)

I made the chain as well.

I started to think about other things you could make using a similar method. So as it's coming up to christmas we decided to give away a bottle of our homemade blackberry wine as a gift, now I do intend to make an amusing paper label for the bottle, but as I was playing around with bits of metal I decided to make a label for the bottle, similar to the old decanter labels that are now collectables (google decanter labels and you'll see what I mean) they are basically a fancy metal label that sits round the neck of the decanter, or in this case bottle, connected to a small chain, with writing on it, usually stating what's in the bottle, they are sometimes made of silver for example, they are nice little things.

This I thought was a good way of making a wine bottle a little more interesting as a gift, so I set about messing around in the back room, which has recently become an extension to my workshop (alright it's a shed) 

Basically I used the same method as I used for the wall hangings, I used wire wool to get the printing off the can and then made a simple design on the pc and printed it out to use as a template, and then I drew round the template using a ball point pen, and this is what I ended up with.

The first draft - 

It's not perfect, but the idea worked.

Over all I was happy enough with the result, the chain I made myself by bending bits of wire round a small drill bit I clamped into a vice, not as hard as you might think, although it does depend on the gauge of wire you use.

At this point I was starting to feel quite pleased with myself, until my lovely wife pointed out that as it's a gift I should use the pewter sheet we have (I had forgotten about it) and as ever she is right, it does look better, I still used the chain I made (I may do a quick how to for that)

Here's the finished pewter bottle label - 

It does look better.

This label was made the same way as the other one, but this one I changed the wording a little ;-) (thanks again to my wife for the choice of words) I have since used a small file to remove any sharp edges and tidy it up a little. The good thing about pewter sheet is that it's quit soft, you can cut it with scissors (same goes for the drinks cans) I think it's a great idea to make a plain bottle look a little nicer, and the label can be kept for other bottles, so hopefully it will serve as a reminder of the gift once it's gone.

Here's another picture - 

Ta da !

As you can see I've given the label a raised effect by placing the template on the metal the wrong way round, so that when you look at the front of it you get a raised look, you can just place the label on the right way round and when you're finished it will have an engraved look about it.

So why not have a go and make your wine bottles or decanters a label, or do as I have and include one with any bottled type gifts, you don't have to stick to wine or spirits either, you could add a similar label to a perfume bottle or even a jar of jam and if you don't feel like making a chain you can get lengths of chain from most diy type places (b&q have some nice ones) or if you want to get really posh you could get a real silver necklace and use that, it's up to you.

Thanks for reading.