DIY: Pet Bottles Lanterns

Hello all you lovely people. Hope you all are doing great! 

Today's post is a continuation to my previous post on recycled pet bottles. This is just another fab way which can be tried to beautify your pet bottle lanterns. A great, simple and inexpensive way to create festive lighting for your home this Diwali.  

Jumping straight to the tutorial, lets start with what you'll need for this project.

·      A Large pet bottle (Either a Mirinda, Coke or Pepsi)

·      Crepe Paper

·      Fevicol/Glue

·      Tea light candles

Take a large pet bottle and cut the upper half & the lower part of the bottle just keeping the

Middle portion. In this case I’ve used a large Mirinda pet bottle. Trim off the extras with a scissor 

to get a neater finish.

The Middle Portion of a Large Mirinda Pet Bottle

For embellishments, I’m going to make use of crepe papers to create a lantern. So take any three different colours of crepe paper. In this case, I’ve used yellow, orange & red. To begin with, cut strips of approximately 5-6cms of each colour. You can get creative by using different textures and colours.

Now take each strip, and make arc-like designs on it. Once you’ve done this, cut out the arc portions keeping it continuous.  Do this for all three crepe papers.

Once we’re done with cutting the arc cutouts, we need to stick them onto the pet bottle cutout in order to create a frilly effect. So now the next step would be to stick each of the crepe cutout by layers. Apply fevicol to the upper part of each frill and stick it to the bottle. So first, start with sticking the first layer beginning at the top of the bottle cutout. Continue the same method and keep sticking each layer one below the other till you reach at the bottom of the bottle.

This is what you're lantern will begin to look like.

You're crepe paper layers will look more like fish scales. Take a look at the picture below:

We're done with the lantern but we need to use it turning it upside down. Like this, it will give a better effect of the scaly layers that we've created. Finally, Just use it with a LED tea light or a normal tea light to light up the lantern. Here's the final product...

Definitely a fab way for putting to use all throw away pet bottles. A very simple idea which can be customised in numerous ways. Do try it out and let me know if you have any suggestions.

Till Then,
Happy Crafting!

Karen

Wine Bottle Illuminary

A while ago I had a post written on Stunning Lighting Decor from Old Liquor/Wine Bottles where I used bottles to create illuminaries. This is just an  addition to the collection but with a unique design. 

I totally love Moroccan art & designs and I believe they can make any accessory look stunning may it be a bottle, a lantern, a jar or for that matter any other decor item. The intricate designs are simply superb and stunning. 

This wine bottle is done up in fuchsia and fluorescent yellow with black detailing. Here are a few snapshots of the wine bottle:

In Daylight 

Lit up with rice lights

A Closer Look

This piece had been in my WIP for quite sometime now... More because of the intricacy and detailing required over here. I hope to try out some more designs especially on bottles and yes, not to forget jars. 

Till then, happy Crafting!

Karen 

Beer Bottles Upcylced to Create Lighting Décor

Well, it’s been a long time that I’ve shared my recent updates and activities and my list of excuses doesn’t seem to end :P. It’s been a busy season of festivals and holidays… and since I’m based in Goa, we have a dozen of festivals lined up like the IFFI, the St. Francis Xavier feast, Christmas and tons of weddings! And if you happen to visit Goa during this wintery festival time, you’ll find a lot of glitter around you with festive lights and lamps everywhere – the streets, the markets, the beaches. And I’m so inspired by all the glitter and the light bulbs around me that I’m just trying to stock up as many ideas and stuff stocked up so that I can make lighting for Christmas!!

My recent project is also based on lighting where I’ve up cycled beer (breezer) bottles to make beautiful lighting. Here's a sneak up of the bottles before I would lay my hands on them...

Basically, What I’ve done with these is – got the base layer of the bottle cut to use it appropriately for lighting, got the bottles painted with ceramic paints (because they’re more durable than glass paints and give a deep color on glass). And finally, for the lighting I’ve used tea-light candles as well as rice lights to light up these. Check out the pictures below to see more… 

A few snapshots in broad day light:

And here are the snapshots with the actual plethora of lights..

A Magenta colored bottle lighting inspired by morrocan art. Love the colorful reflection created by the design.

A Yellow colored bottle lighting in a mosaic and spiral design. Notice how the dark borders create the bold shadows with the fine ripples created by the spiral design.

A turquoise colored bottle lighting with an abstract leaf design. 

My favorite of the lot! Plum colored bottle lighting inspired by a morrocan design. Also, notice the reflections it creates is totally mind blowing. In fact i did not expect to get such an effect upon lighting. I was totally surprised!

The lot together creating a beautiful plethora of lights

I've also tried lighting up these bottles using rice lights and here's how it looks...

A more vibrant version of the bottle lighting decor.

And that's all for these week. I plan to create a chandelier or a hanging lantern of these bottles which I would share it in my future posts. For more pictures do visit my Facebook Page and do not forget to like us if you love our stuff!! 

Till then, take care and Happy Crafting!

Karen Vaz