West Virginia's New River Bridge - In a BottleNo doubt you've
seen a ship in a bottle. It's an impressive illusion that is
achieved by building a small ship with collapsible masts that can
be raised with a string once it's inside the bottle. In this
article, you'll be introduced to techniques you can use to build
something less conventional – not only the New River Bridge[1]
but an entire scene as well.
The basic idea to keep in mind when considering any intra-bottle
creation is that everything must either be small enough to go through
the neck of the bottle, or must come apart into pieces small enough to
do so. Although this article is about building a specific bridge and
scene, the techniques can be used to make a variety of other projects.
So, without further ado, here is the information to get you started
building your own bottle creation.
!! Steps !!
* 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.
Choose a bottle that is right for your
creation. 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 timeEmpty 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.
* This is Wilson, the initial author's favoriteAssemble the
tools. 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.
* It's better to hold the bottle uprightCreate the scenery base.
The scenery base in this bottle was created using a two-part epoxy
clay called Apoxie 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.
Your best friendMake a swab tool. 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 Apoxie Safety Solvent (to remove clay
smudges) or window cleaner. You will use and discard many swabs in
keeping your bottle project clean.
* The smoother the log the betterAs you add clay logs, flatten
them using a tool that can take some pressure. 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.
* Keep thinking about the shape of the landscapeCreate a
clean-looking layer of black in the shape of the landscape, that
acts as a visual barrier, and which can be filled with more Apoxie
or other materials. 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.
* Clean up that workbench!Use a cardboard dummy of the bridge to
help with the planning of the Apoxie scenery base as it is built
up. 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 long.
Use only CDs you never want to listen to againBuild the arch
from styrene strips. 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.
* Copper mesh from an art supply catalogBents (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.
* Maintain good posture throughout!The height of the bents
should be checked with the arch to ensure a flat surface for the
deck.
* Make the road deck from styrene sheet and
strips.
Step forms assemble with pegs and holesTo make sure that the
bridge has a correctly-shaped contour to sit on once it is
inserted in the bottle, create a pair of step-forms from square
styrene tubing.
* Assembled using wooden platform - see later stepsThese 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.
* Scenery work has also begunCement the step-forms into the
landscape using Apoxie. The two connector pieces can be removed.
With the landscape in its near-final shape,
and with the step-forms in place, add the
color and texture needed to bring the scene to
life. 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.
* Top of mountain left off for accessFoliating 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.
* Small brush for small jobsThe 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.
* Be conservative with the glossThe 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.
Insert the bridge in two sections. In order to
position and glue them accurately within the
bottle, a hinged wooden platform can be
created from popsicle sticks.
* Bents must fold towards center of bridgeThe 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.
* Looking through neckBecause 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.
* Securely attach the bents and arch to the
scenery using dabs of Apoxie clay.
* After many, many hours of dedicated and
tedious work, here is the result. 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.
!! Tips !!
* Keep the inside of the bottle clean as you work.
* Use a magnifying lens or goggles if you need to. Ensure that
you're working under good lighting.
* Plan ahead. Apoxie can't be undone, so think about what features
need to be embedded.
* For models like this, color and texture are the most important
features. Detail is important only in specific areas where you
want the eye to linger.
* White glue dries glossy, but you can use Testor's Dullcote to
dull any visible shiny areas.
* In order for Apoxie to form a lasting bond with the glass, the
bottle must be cleaned very thoroughly to remove any abrasive dust
from the polishing process. Alcohol or vinegar are good cleaning
solutions.
!! Warnings !!
* If you feel like you need to take a break, do it.
!! Things You\'ll Need !!
* Suitable bottle, cleaned by professional if needed
* Pieces of wire, wood, clothes hanger
* Epoxy clay (for example, Apoxie)
* Cardboard
* Styrene sheets
* Cutting tools
* Copper mesh
* Model foliage
* Other modeling items as decided by you
* Acrylic paints
* Gloss
* Paintbrushes
* Glue
* Drill
* Kebab skewer(s)
!! Related WikiHows !!
* How to Build a Model Bridge out of Skewers
* How to Build a Model Bridge out of Manila Folders
* How to Coin Stack a Penny Bridge
* How to Build a Model Railroad
* How to Make an Impossible Bottle
!! Sources And Citations !!
* http://www.unbrokenhome.com - Original source of images and
technique, shared with permission.
!! Article Tools !!
* Read on wikiHow
*
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