Striped Bottle Vase

"Do you have a vase? A vaaase??"

                                             (You've Got Mail; 1998)

Today, I’m going to show you how you can make an old bottle into an original colorful vase for flowers from your husband/fiancé/boyfriend. Besides its useful functions, it is also an interesting element for a house decoration. This idea comes more or less from my art class in primary school (I remember making paper Easter eggs using crepe paper like in this tutorial). That’s why I urge children to make one, too.

difficulty: easy

estimated time: 2 days

You need:

• a glass bottle
• crepe paper in various colors (best if they match the colors of your room)
• an old newspaper
• wallpaper adhesive
• white glue
• a paintbrush for pasting the glue

Tutorial steps:

1. Tear the newspaper into small pieces. Prepare the wallpaper adhesive in a bowl or a jar– it should be thicker than it says on the packaging.

2. Cover the bottle with the wallpaper adhesive and glue the pieces of the newspaper to it. Put the adhesive on it and put the second layer of newspaper. Make a few more layers this way, making sure that there are no gaps.

3. Leave it for the night to dry.

4. Next day, cut out a few straps around 3 cm [1.2 in] wide from each color of the crepe paper. Grab the end of a strap and form a long string by twisting the paper with your fingers. Do the same with the rest of the straps.

5. Beginning at the bottom of the bottle, glue the crepe paper strings around it using some white glue. Make sure that they are close adjoined and there are no gaps between them. Leave it for a few hours to dry and it’s finished! You can also cover  it with some spray varnish.

Downloadables:
- Printable Version (pdf)

Next Wednesday:A Butterfly on a Stick