I wanted to make the centerpieces on a budget so I started saving different sized glass bottles; wine, olive oil, sparkling water, mini glass soda bottles. The bottles are perfect because they are different heights, and shapes.

Photo by Morgan Bayard Photography 

1. First I chose four main colors (black, white, red and purple). 

2. Next I set up my workspace- a folding table with an old sheet, palette for paint (plastic plate covered with aluminum foil), water, paper towels, and midgrade acrylic paint. Not the $1 stuff because it will not go on as smoothly and takes a lot more coats.

3. Then I started painting- Line up bottles on the table like an assembly line. I painted a bunch of the same style at once to save time. Everything starts with a base color- then is set to dry (blending a bottle half and half with two colors looked amazing!) The next layer can be something simple and graphic like- stripes, lines, dots, splatter paint. Then the final layer of paint- details and any necessary touch ups.



Photos by Morgan Bayard Photography

A FEW EXTRA TIPS:
A few tricks that I used when painting my designs - Make sure that your lines are proportionate to your sized bottle (making dainty designs didn’t give me that graphic punch that I was going for), paint a stripe around the bottom or top of the bottle to ground the design. If you are really ambitious you can splatter paint (be careful, I am still finding tiny black dots on walls and furniture) or drip watered down paint from the top of the bottle. Adding words and lettering to personalize the bottles is also fun (ours said “LOVE”)! (make sure that your letters are all the same height and spaced evenly for neatness). To help handle the bottles while wet I used a wooden dowel inserted into the bottle, this allowed rotation and lifting with one finger on the bottom.



Photos by Morgan Bayard Photography