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.