Cleaning Bottles for Bottles of Hope

My friend Sky works at a place where he can get bottles for my guild for Bottles of Hope.
We are so lucky, bottles are hard to come by now days without paying for them.

He saves us the safe ones.
He told me something I thought I would share.

He uses a bottle opener to take off the tops of the bottles.

Boy that was huge duh for me.
I have been using a pair of wire cutters.
I would end up with cut hands.

What ever is in the bottles all over my hands.
If you turn the opener over completely you can move it and the top of the bottle right to the trash.

It took forever.
Well, no longer, thanks to the brilliant Sky.
About 10 minutes.

He also said to clean them with ammonia instead of bleach.
I am going to fill this tub up with water, add a cup of ammonia and clean and soak off the labels.
I now no longer mind doing this at all.
So now I am much better and smarter because of a brilliant friend.
Thanks Sky.

Finished on the 15th- Fave Crafts Blog Hop- a little hope

Well, another 15th of the month and a Fave Crafts Blog hop is here. Welcome to all of you new to my blog, I hope you enjoy your visit and come back again sometime.
To all of you that visit here regular like, HI!!
http://www.favecraftsblog.com/finished-on-the-fifteenth-favecrafts-blog-hop-for-june/

Can you believe that it is the 15th of June? The year is half way over and the second half will be here soon.
Is it that my life is so full of stuff, that things are moving so fast?
How about you? Do you feel as if time is whizzing by?

Just a reminder for all of you that make your Christmas presents, START NOW!

Well, the thing that I got finished this month is a flower cane with and with out background and the instructions on how to make a Bottle of Hope.
Here are the links, there are 4 parts to this:

http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/06/flower-cane-and-bottle-of-hope-part-1.html

http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/06/flower-cane-and-bottle-of-hope-part-2.html

http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/06/flower-cane-and-bottle-of-hope-part-3.html

http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/06/flower-cane-and-bottle-of-hope-part-4.html

Bottles of Hope http://www.bottlesofhope.org/ were thought up by a wonderful woman name Diane Gregoire who was going through breast cancer treatments in the late '90's.
She would take the bottles used in hers and others treatments and place polymer clay around them, then she would return for more treatments and pass them out to the people who were there for treatments too.
I met Diane in 1999 and fell in love with her attitude and lust for life and thriving through one of the most horrific diagnoses one can receive in life. Her large lovely grace gifted my life and I went out and taught about the program and talked to others about Diane and her bottles. I was travelling all over the world at the time and it was fun to spread the word.
Little did I know how much it would mean to me later in life when my mother and Sister in law were diagnosed with this dreaded disease.
I made 300+ bottles for my sister-in-law while she was going through treatments and before she died. I would get a call every week when I sent them, from her saying "oh I am keeping this one" or "I have a special person to give this one too". I loved it. It gave me some thing to do. I felt like I was helping somehow.
My guild and I have been making bottles of hope ever since and have been closely affiliated with Moore's cancer center and Dr. Casden over the years, we even have Bottles of Hope Clay Days. Yay Team!
It has been most rewarding and fulfilling  even in the tragedy of it.
Isn't that what life is about, finding something of value and light in the dark parts?
It is for me!!
Go out and find some light!!!
Go out and make the light!!!
Go out and spread some light!!!
Go out and be the light!!!

Flower cane and Bottle of hope- part 4

This is the how to cover the Bottle of hope and make the lid. It is continued from part 3 here,
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/06/flower-cane-and-bottle-of-hope-part-3.html

You will need:


Violet Cernit- 1, 2.2 ounce packages
Opaque White Cernit- 3, 2.2 ounce packages
Black Cernit-1, 2.2 ounce packages
Yellow Cernit- 1. 2.2 ounce package
Blue Cernit- 1, 2.2 ounce package
Porcelain White Cernit- large package 1.1 pound
Clay Machine
Clay Slicing Blade
Acrylic roller
Ruler

All links lead to my hubby's store http://www.clayfactory.net/
Thank you so much for looking, we appreciate that. ;-D

Mix all of the colors, even the black and opaque white with an equal amount of porcelain white.

69. Roll out a sheet of the Opaque white cernit on the 4th or 5th thickest (this depends on what you like, the clay you are using, and how thick or thin your 4th or 5th setting is) setting in your clay machine.
Lay the bottle on top of the sheet and trim the leading edge so it is straight.
Trim the bottom edge to the bottom of the bottle.

70. Roll the bottle over the other side of the sheet, making a mark with the leading edge and trim just inside the line you made with the leading edge.
Just like covering the canes we have done in the other lessons.

71. First you want to press in around the neck and ease the clay around the indent. This is different on every bottle and some may take more time and care than others. Try not to trap any air in there.

72. Hold the blade level with the top of the bottle and trim off the excess bringing the blade around the top of the bottle. The blade will lay right on top of the bottle.

73. Trim along the bottom the same way.

74. Using a cutter that is slightly smaller than the bottom of the bottle roll out a sheet of clay that is on the 4th or the 5th setting of the clay machine, cut out a round of clay.

75. Press the round on to the bottom and press down in the very center,
Go to one edge and work your way around the bottom of the bottle closing the edge.

 76. You can then press the edges together. Do this all the way around.

77. I then like to roll the edge on my work surface.

78. I roll the bottle on my work surface to smooth the fingerprints out or off.

79. Take a 7/8" ball of the opaque white Cernit and roll it till it is smooth on the surface.

80. Roll in to a teardrop. Roll into a teardrop by rolling on one side of the ball.

81. It will look like this. The thinner end should fit inside of the bottle opening.

82. Place in the opening of the bottle. Shape the lid.
Keep from pushing it on to the lip of the bottle.

83. Gently take it out of the bottle by turning gently and pulling it out.
Cut off the end at about 1/2" or more so the stopper is not too long on the bottom.

84. Place the stopper back in the bottle to reshape and decorate the bottle.
I sliced off a large slice from the flower cane and then rolled down a small section (2") of the cane to about 1/4" and sliced off small flowers about 1/8" thick and place them around the neck of the bottle.

85. I added the flower with out a border to the top all the way around the larger slice and then added some of the plain petals to the bottom placing the points of the petals in to the dips between the 1/4" round flowers.
I rolled down some of the plain shaded blue cane and added those slices between the petals.

86. Gently pull the top back out of the bottle twisting as you go.
Bake the top out of the bottle on a piece of corrugated cardboard in a 275 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes, shut off oven and let cool a bit. Pull out of the oven and place the stopper back in the bottle while still warm and let cool completely.
The stopper will stay in the bottle and will pop in and out when you remove it or put it back in!
I like the tops made this way because we never lose the top then. When we do lots and lots of bottle and the tops fall out all of the time, sometimes it is hard to find the matches and sometimes we lose them when transporting them too!
This way they are always in the bottle.

I stained this bottle with some brown Ne-Opaque and washed off the excess with a damp not sopping old towel. I then blushed on some hi-lite blue Lumiere to the slices of the canes.

Flower cane and Bottle of hope- part 3

This is the next flower cane and it will have a background to it. It is continued from part 2 here http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/06/flower-cane-and-bottle-of-hope-part-2.html

Also in case you haven't noticed, I have added colors and amounts to this and the last "you will need" list.

You will need:


Violet Cernit- 1, 2.2 ounce packages
Opaque White Cernit- 3, 2.2 ounce packages
Black Cernit-1, 2.2 ounce packages
Yellow Cernit- 1. 2.2 ounce package
Blue Cernit- 1, 2.2 ounce package
Porcelain White Cernit- large package 1.1 pound
Clay Machine
Clay Slicing Blade
Acrylic roller
Ruler

All links lead to my hubby's store http://www.clayfactory.net/ 
Thank you so much for looking, we appreciate that. ;-D

Mix all of the colors, even the black and opaque white with an equal amount of porcelain white.

45. Take another section of the 1/2" diameter petal cane that you rolled down from the instructions in part 2.
Cut 5- 2" sections.

46. Make a pinch in the end of the 2" section where the black lines meet on one side.
Turn to the other end and make a pinch in the same side on the other end of the 2" cane section.
Sometimes the pinches will line up along the length and sometimes they will be off like this.
Rock the ends of the cane back and forth to line the end pinches up.

47. Like this! Do this to each of the 5 sections.

48. Now lay them on your work surface and press them into petals.
Place one of your fingers at the end of the cane and use the finger on the other hand to press the coil in to a teardrop by moving towards your other finger holding the end of the cane.
I do not show this here, but that is how I do it.
I need one hand to take the pictures though.
Press only on one side of the length of the section.
Make the point of the petal into a point down the length of the 2" section.
Do this to all 5 sections.

49. Place three of the petals together in a fan shape with the points of the petals in the middle leaving a little channel in the center of the points.

50. Place a small coil of yellow in to the channel that you have made. This little coil is about 1/8" in diameter.

51. Put the other two petals in place in the grouping. Move the petals around so that they are coming out from the center of the cane center equally and evenly.

Turn the flower over and do the same thing to the other side of the flower.
Set this aside to work on the next part of this cane. We are going to be making another shaded cane out of blue and white to pack the outside of this flower with.

52. Roll out some of the white you have in the clay machine on the thickest setting.
You will want a sheet of white that is double and 2" high and the width of the clay machine.
I always make the sheets the width of my pasta machine so they don't get all wonky on my while I am rolling them in the Skinner Blend Process.

53. With your blade start at the top in the left corner and 3/4" down on the other side cut out a triangle section from the top of the double thick white sheets.

54. Condition and roll out a piece of the blue and double that.

55. Use the white triangle that you cut away from the white rectangle sheet to measure and cut a blue triangle.

56. Place the blue double thick triangle where the white one was cut away to make the rectangle whole again.

57. Roll the sheet together with your acrylic roller.
Place in to the clay machine on the thickest setting across the rollers. Do not spread the sheet by rolling just roll the two colors together.
Press on the top of the sheet where the blue is as you roll through the machine.
Bring the sheet out of the bottom of the machine and turn your hand with the sheet 1/4 and fold the sheet left to right, always matching the ends of the sheet not the top.
Place the fold in to the machine and roll through again. Bring out of the machine turn the sheet 1/4 and food from left to right.
Place the fold in to the machine and roll through on the thickest setting.
Do this same step as described 20 more times until the sheet is blended from light to a darker blue.



58. The sheet will look like this.
Fold in half again from left to right.
Fold in half again from left to right. All the light will be on one side and all the dark will be on the other side. Keep it that way when you fold the sheet too!

59. This is the picture from the purple shaded cane in part 2. I forgot to take the blue picture like this, sorry!!

Place the end into the clay machine right next to the right edge and roll this way though on the thickest setting.
Turn down the machine to the 5th thickest setting and roll this sheet through again on the thinner setting to lengthen some more.

60. Trim of the end of the length on the light side for a straight edge and mix the trimmed off part in to one color.

61. Roll onto a coil and make it the width of the d sheet. Lay it across the end of the light edge. Roll the coil and the sheet up as tight as you can into a larger coil.

Squeeze and turn as you move up to the one end and then turn it over and turn and squeeze top the other end of the coil. Reduce the diameter this way until is half the diameter it was.

Roll on the work surface to lengthen out in to a long coil that is 1/2" in diameter.





62. Cut off sections of the blue shaded cane that are the same length as the flower cane you just made. You will need 5.

63. Press in to a triangle shape with one hand while hold in the opposite end with your finger so it does not get longer.

Do this to all 5 sections.

64. Flatten out the triangle some more. Do this to each one.

65. Stand the flower on end and place each one of the blue shaded cane triangles in each dip between the petals before pushing them in.

66. Cradling the cane log in your hand you bring the edges of the triangle together with the last one.

Do not force this, go around the cane and press them together and then turn the cane from end to end and press them together again.

This is another one of those pictures where 2 hands should be in here, but I need one of my hands to take the picture.




67. Squeeze the cane in the middle to put a waist on it and then turning and pushing as you move up the cane itself.

Flip the cane over and start in the middle and work your way to the other end by turning and pushing a little at a time again.

Work the cane down to half the diameter before rolling the cane on your work surface.

Star with your hands in the middle of the cane and rolling it 360 degrees or more forward and then backward as you move your hands away from each other.

Reduce down to 3/4" and then do a rolling cut by rolling the cane forward and moving the blade forward at the same time. It should look close to this!

68. Here are two of the canes we are going to use. These two and the petals we made by themselves and the shaded blue cane too!





That will be continued in part 4...
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/06/flower-cane-and-bottle-of-hope-part-4.html