September 15, 2010

The Chihuly Bottle Process

You asked for it!  Here is the step by step for creating the Chihuly bottle that are part of the "Chandelier"
and the "Tower".  I hope this helps!! And this is just how I did it..I'm sure
there is a million other good ways of doing this!



First tie a string around an empty bottle(this is good for hanging on to it..and for hanging it to dry later!).  Have the students remove the label.  Then give each student a large piece of plastic wrap.  They need to ball it up and tape it onto the bottom of their bottle. This gives a little extra length &shape to the twist at the end.
Have the students hold the bottle by the cap & scribble scrabble glue over the whole exterior(including the plastic wrap).  They will then wrap it in the tissue paper...allowing for a long "tail" to twist.


After the tail is twisted, student will paint a glaze mixture onto the piece. I used a mixture of Tempera Glaze, Pearl It & Glitter It(by Crayola).  Then tie it by the string and allow it to dry!

10 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, that's so much easier than I guessed. I would think the big thing is to have non-bleeding tissue, or everyone will go home with very stained hands? This is a really a terrific project.
    I'm curious - what will happen to the chandelier etc when done? Will they be permanently installed somewhere? Or will each child eventually take home his own bottle?

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  2. Thanks for the awesome tutorial!!!! I am going to try this with the kids tomorrow! I will let you know how it goes~

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  3. Phyl...I actually used regular Tissue paper. Most of the students left my room with clean hands. If they hold the cap...they will actually touch the tissue paper very little. The twisting of the end happens before you put the glaze on, and that is the most contact they have with the tissue paper. There are always a couple messers though!! ha ha I'm going to take a photo of each work that their piece is a part of & give to them.

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  4. Thanks for sharing the process. I am excited to do this with my class. We are starting to collect the bottles this week!

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  5. I love this and wish my school had a place I could display something like this, but since we are an open air school... meaning no hallways or common areas... it would be almost impossible. :(

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  6. Even the drying area looks interesting in a sculptural way!

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  7. This is awesome!!! I will definetly try this with my class!!!
    I am from Greece, Thessaloniki, and i always look for creative projects and art constructions. This was very helpfull!
    Thank you!
    Amalia

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  8. Love Chihuly and want to do something like this next year with my students...be in a new school with 2nd graders!...what an inspirational idea!

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  9. What is tempera glaze? When I google it, nothing really comes up...

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    1. It is also called Tempera Varnish. I think I got it through Sax or School Specialty.

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