How to Build the New River Bridge in a Bottle
Seek inspiration., Choose a bottle that is right for your creation., Assemble the tools., Create the scenery base., Make a swab tool., As you add clay logs, flatten them using a tool that can take some pressure., Create a clean-looking layer of...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Seek inspiration.
What kind of scene or object would be interesting to put into a bottle? What subject will be able to hold your interest over the many hours needed to complete the project? Perhaps a simple scene would be good to start with.
People have been putting creations into bottles for centuries, and a browsing around the internet might yield some inspiration. , Consider the size of the object or the design of your scene.
Would a long skinny bottle be best, laid on its side? Would a short fat bottle be best, used upright? Many people use clear liquor bottles, but you may want something more elegant.
Often the best bottles are clear, cork-type (without threads), free of distortions, scratches, and other damage, and have a neck opening that allows you sufficient access.
Another consideration is the length of the neck – a short neck allows much better access to all parts of the bottle, including the difficult-to-access ‘shoulders’ of the bottle, just inside the neck opening.
Cleaning bottles yourself can be a waste of time]]Empty bottles are everywhere, but finding the right one may take some persistence.
Antique shops are a good source of older, elegant cork-type bottles.
You might find the right bottle, but be disappointed if old age has left it clouded, scratched, or otherwise compromised.
Not to worry – there are professional bottle cleaning services that can tumble the bottle on a machine and polish it to like-new condition, all for just a few bucks.
Or you can try cleaning the bottle yourself, but some mineral deposits can be nearly impossible to get out. , The tools needed will depend on what you’re creating, but generally you'll need long, slender pieces of wire or wood, which can be bent or shaped to suit the task at hand.
One tool that will prove very useful if you're getting serious about your project is something called an ear polypus, which is like a long skinny pliers.
This photo shows a simple tool made from coat hanger wire., The scenery base in this bottle was created using a two-part epoxy clay called Epoxy Sculpt.
Using gloves, mix the clay until it is a uniform color, and roll it into little logs.
The clay will stick to the end of a tool, and can be lowered through the bottle’s mouth., Try to avoid touching the inside of the bottle with the clay in places where you won’t be putting the landscape, since it will leave smudges which you’ll have to go back and wipe out, which is very time consuming.
In fact, keeping the inside of the bottle clean is one of the most time-consuming and tedious parts of this process.
Prevention is the best remedy, but you'll ultimately spend plenty of time with your swab tool doing damage control.
To make a swab tool, take a small rectangle of paper towel and tape it around the end of a piece of clothes-hanger wire.
Moisten it with a solvent like epoxy Safety Solvent (to remove clay smudges) or window cleaner.
You will use and discard many swabs in keeping your bottle project clean. , This tool was made from ¼” (6mm) steel gas line tubing.
It may take a while for you to learn how to shape and flatten the clay logs so that they contact the glass evenly with few trapped air bubbles., The working time for Apoxie is about three hours, so you may need to mix new batches as you go.
If you're leaving the project for long enough that the Apoxie will dry, try to think of how to best shape the edges of the Apoxie you’ve already placed so that joining fresh Apoxie later on won't create crevasses or air pockets that will be visible outside the bottle., Based on the size of the bottle, it was decided that the 3030-foot-long bridge would be built to a scale of 1:6060, yielding a model 6 inches (15.2 cm) long., Scale-dimension styrene is available from a few companies in the US, or you can cut your own strips from styrene sheets using a razor blade and ruler.
For the arch, styrene strips can be bent around the diameter of a stack of CDs glued together, and held in place with pins while glued.
Bents (the vertical support pieces) for the bridge can be made from strips of copper mesh, cut in strips to form the x-bracing, and sandwiched by styrene strips.
The height of the bents should be checked with the arch to ensure a flat surface for the deck. ,, These became part of a structural frame that was inserted in pieces into the bottle and reformed to hold the exact negative space that the bridge would occupy. , The two connector pieces can be removed., Trees can be made from bits of Woodland Scenics ground foam, and inserted individually.
Use a wire tool to apply small dabs of white glue inside the bottle, then wipe off the end of the tool and lightly lick it; your saliva will be sticky enough to pick up a tiny tree tuft, but less sticky than the glue spot, so applying the tree is relatively easy.
Exfoliating this bottle took about one hour per square inch of forest, with the most time consuming parts being the distant hills, where smaller tree tufts were used to give the illusion of distance.
The furthest background mountains can be painted with acrylic paints, using an improvised brush.
Cut a very small commercial brush short, and insert a brass wire in a hole in its stub, which can then be inserted in a hole drilled in the end of a kebab skewer.
This allows the brush to be bent to reach different areas inside the bottle.
You may want to experiment with the length of the wire section to suit your needs.
The river gloss was created with Woodland Scenics ‘Realistic Water’ product.
Drops were transported into the bottle on the end of a wire and spread to fill the river bed.
The railroad tracks are flattened shelves of Apoxie painted gray, with parallel black threads glued with white glue. , In order to position and glue them accurately within the bottle, a hinged wooden platform can be created from popsicle sticks.
The tallest four bents attached to the road deck were too tall to go through the opening of the bottle, but were attached to the deck with a flexible white glue called Crafter’s Pick Ultimate, which gave the bents the flexibility to bend without breaking as they were inserted.
The arch and its bents was slim enough to squeeze through the neck without needing any hinges.
Because the landscape blocked most of the light and view when inverted, it was very difficult to see the uniting of the two bridge sections.
A wiser builder might have chosen a bottle with a greater diameter and fewer distortions.
After enough staring into the bottle, you can start to feel a little distorted yourself.
Here the bridge has been joined and placed. ,, Although you may not wish to build something this intricate on your first try, a simple rural landscape scene, perhaps with a few buildings, is well within the reach of any crafter with the patience to try. -
Step 2: Choose a bottle that is right for your creation.
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Step 3: Assemble the tools.
-
Step 4: Create the scenery base.
-
Step 5: Make a swab tool.
-
Step 6: As you add clay logs
-
Step 7: flatten them using a tool that can take some pressure.
-
Step 8: Create a clean-looking layer of black in the shape of the landscape
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Step 9: that acts as a visual barrier
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Step 10: and which can be filled with more Apoxie or other materials.
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Step 11: Use a cardboard dummy of the bridge to help with the planning of the Apoxie scenery base as it is built up.
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Step 12: Build the arch from styrene strips.
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Step 13: Make the road deck from styrene sheet and strips.
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Step 14: To make sure that the bridge has a correctly-shaped contour to sit on once it is inserted in the bottle
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Step 15: create a pair of step-forms from square styrene tubing.
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Step 16: Cement the step-forms into the landscape using Apoxie.
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Step 17: With the landscape in its near-final shape
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Step 18: and with the step-forms in place
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Step 19: add the color and texture needed to bring the scene to life.
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Step 20: Insert the bridge in two sections.
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Step 21: Securely attach the bents and arch to the scenery using dabs of Apoxie clay.
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Step 22: After many
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Step 23: many hours of dedicated and tedious work
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Step 24: here is the result.
Detailed Guide
What kind of scene or object would be interesting to put into a bottle? What subject will be able to hold your interest over the many hours needed to complete the project? Perhaps a simple scene would be good to start with.
People have been putting creations into bottles for centuries, and a browsing around the internet might yield some inspiration. , Consider the size of the object or the design of your scene.
Would a long skinny bottle be best, laid on its side? Would a short fat bottle be best, used upright? Many people use clear liquor bottles, but you may want something more elegant.
Often the best bottles are clear, cork-type (without threads), free of distortions, scratches, and other damage, and have a neck opening that allows you sufficient access.
Another consideration is the length of the neck – a short neck allows much better access to all parts of the bottle, including the difficult-to-access ‘shoulders’ of the bottle, just inside the neck opening.
Cleaning bottles yourself can be a waste of time]]Empty bottles are everywhere, but finding the right one may take some persistence.
Antique shops are a good source of older, elegant cork-type bottles.
You might find the right bottle, but be disappointed if old age has left it clouded, scratched, or otherwise compromised.
Not to worry – there are professional bottle cleaning services that can tumble the bottle on a machine and polish it to like-new condition, all for just a few bucks.
Or you can try cleaning the bottle yourself, but some mineral deposits can be nearly impossible to get out. , The tools needed will depend on what you’re creating, but generally you'll need long, slender pieces of wire or wood, which can be bent or shaped to suit the task at hand.
One tool that will prove very useful if you're getting serious about your project is something called an ear polypus, which is like a long skinny pliers.
This photo shows a simple tool made from coat hanger wire., The scenery base in this bottle was created using a two-part epoxy clay called Epoxy Sculpt.
Using gloves, mix the clay until it is a uniform color, and roll it into little logs.
The clay will stick to the end of a tool, and can be lowered through the bottle’s mouth., Try to avoid touching the inside of the bottle with the clay in places where you won’t be putting the landscape, since it will leave smudges which you’ll have to go back and wipe out, which is very time consuming.
In fact, keeping the inside of the bottle clean is one of the most time-consuming and tedious parts of this process.
Prevention is the best remedy, but you'll ultimately spend plenty of time with your swab tool doing damage control.
To make a swab tool, take a small rectangle of paper towel and tape it around the end of a piece of clothes-hanger wire.
Moisten it with a solvent like epoxy Safety Solvent (to remove clay smudges) or window cleaner.
You will use and discard many swabs in keeping your bottle project clean. , This tool was made from ¼” (6mm) steel gas line tubing.
It may take a while for you to learn how to shape and flatten the clay logs so that they contact the glass evenly with few trapped air bubbles., The working time for Apoxie is about three hours, so you may need to mix new batches as you go.
If you're leaving the project for long enough that the Apoxie will dry, try to think of how to best shape the edges of the Apoxie you’ve already placed so that joining fresh Apoxie later on won't create crevasses or air pockets that will be visible outside the bottle., Based on the size of the bottle, it was decided that the 3030-foot-long bridge would be built to a scale of 1:6060, yielding a model 6 inches (15.2 cm) long., Scale-dimension styrene is available from a few companies in the US, or you can cut your own strips from styrene sheets using a razor blade and ruler.
For the arch, styrene strips can be bent around the diameter of a stack of CDs glued together, and held in place with pins while glued.
Bents (the vertical support pieces) for the bridge can be made from strips of copper mesh, cut in strips to form the x-bracing, and sandwiched by styrene strips.
The height of the bents should be checked with the arch to ensure a flat surface for the deck. ,, These became part of a structural frame that was inserted in pieces into the bottle and reformed to hold the exact negative space that the bridge would occupy. , The two connector pieces can be removed., Trees can be made from bits of Woodland Scenics ground foam, and inserted individually.
Use a wire tool to apply small dabs of white glue inside the bottle, then wipe off the end of the tool and lightly lick it; your saliva will be sticky enough to pick up a tiny tree tuft, but less sticky than the glue spot, so applying the tree is relatively easy.
Exfoliating this bottle took about one hour per square inch of forest, with the most time consuming parts being the distant hills, where smaller tree tufts were used to give the illusion of distance.
The furthest background mountains can be painted with acrylic paints, using an improvised brush.
Cut a very small commercial brush short, and insert a brass wire in a hole in its stub, which can then be inserted in a hole drilled in the end of a kebab skewer.
This allows the brush to be bent to reach different areas inside the bottle.
You may want to experiment with the length of the wire section to suit your needs.
The river gloss was created with Woodland Scenics ‘Realistic Water’ product.
Drops were transported into the bottle on the end of a wire and spread to fill the river bed.
The railroad tracks are flattened shelves of Apoxie painted gray, with parallel black threads glued with white glue. , In order to position and glue them accurately within the bottle, a hinged wooden platform can be created from popsicle sticks.
The tallest four bents attached to the road deck were too tall to go through the opening of the bottle, but were attached to the deck with a flexible white glue called Crafter’s Pick Ultimate, which gave the bents the flexibility to bend without breaking as they were inserted.
The arch and its bents was slim enough to squeeze through the neck without needing any hinges.
Because the landscape blocked most of the light and view when inverted, it was very difficult to see the uniting of the two bridge sections.
A wiser builder might have chosen a bottle with a greater diameter and fewer distortions.
After enough staring into the bottle, you can start to feel a little distorted yourself.
Here the bridge has been joined and placed. ,, Although you may not wish to build something this intricate on your first try, a simple rural landscape scene, perhaps with a few buildings, is well within the reach of any crafter with the patience to try.
About the Author
Jose Ortiz
Brings years of experience writing about crafts and related subjects.
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