The Heart to Believe Bottle of Hope by Kim Hale

The Heart to Believe Bottle of Hope 

Designed by Kim Hale 

Our guild works with a local treatment center and gets used saline bottles to make bottles of hope for the cancer patients they treat. This is a great way to give a little encouragement to those going through this difficult time. Taking the bottles and turning them into something inspirational is a way of “kicking cancer’s butt”. 

For this project I used a medium size bottle, some red and white Makin’s® Clay, some rubber stamps and “the paper studio” embossing folder.  For finishing I used gold acrylic paint and brown oil paint.

Note - Here is a bit more information about what Bottles of Hope are - Makin's Clay® is proud to have our designers supporting this worthy effort through the creation of Bottles of Hope featuring Makin's Clay®.  

Bottles of Hope are small glass bottles covered with polymer clay and given to cancer patients. They symbolize a wish and a hope for health.  This project was started in 1999 by a Rhode Island cancer survivor and has spread internationally. Bottles are made by artists, students, survivors, seniors and many more who volunteer their time and love.   Learn more about this worthwhile project, see a gallery of many creative bottles and more here on their website. 

Materials: 

Small bottle 

Makin's Clay® - Red, White 

Makin's® Ultimate Clay Machine 

Makin's® Cutting Mat 

Makin's® Heart Clay Cutter Set 

Rubber stamps 

"The Paper Studio" Hearts embossing folder

Instructions:

Sheet out the white and red clay to a medium thickness. I use the Makin’s® Ultimate Clay Machine™and rolled the clay to the number 4 setting.  

Use the embossing folder to stamp the clay with the pattern (I wanted the hearts to indent in so I used the raised pattern side). Carefully wrap the bottle with the textured clay.  You do not want to handle the bottle much and ruin your pattern.  Wrap a piece of the clay around the top rim of the bottle. 

I used a few stamps and rolled red clay to create the words and two heart shaped clay cutters to cut hearts.  Attach the cut out and stamped items to the bottle, using a little water to moisten the back of the stamped and cut out pieces if needed, or a clear drying adhesive such as Beacon™ Tacky Glue.  Set aside to dry 24 hours.

I created the stopper for the bottle with hand rolled red clay, formed into a stopper with a round flat top.  I then cut a small heart from a piece of clay hand rolled to about 1/4" thickness, and mounted it to the drop of the round stopper top.  

When clay had finished drying, I added gold acrylic paint and wiped away the excess. Not satisfied with the look just yet (it was a bit to bright) I antiqued it with brown oil paint by applying the paint and then removing it while still wet, just to create the antiqued effect.  I just love the way the oil paints leave the finished project with a nice sheen!

Kim Hale
Counselor, Artist, Teacher

Change your thoughts, change your life!