Confetti Style Bottles of Hope

At one of the meetings of my clay guild, Barbara Bowman taught us a fun technique called "Confetti Spaghetti".  I used it to make these Bottles of Hope for local cancer patients.

More on BOH stoppers

I received a nice note from Louise who linked me to her blog where she shows another method of improving Bottle of Hope stoppers. Scroll way down to see her method.

I forgot to say "Thanks" to Georgia (aka iggy) for her suggestion about the tiny rubber bands.

Improved Bottle of Hope Stopper

The problem with stoppers like these is that clay does not stick to them well. Also, they tend to fall out if a heavy top is placed on them. Here is a method to make them work a little better. It sounds complicated, but it really is quite fast.

Get a leather punch, a hammer and a small block of wood. My “Maxi” leather punch set came from Michaels and I use the largest tip with it. (You will punch a hole in the stopper and you want it to be as large as possible. The Mini punch set is too small.)

Place the piece of wood on the floor or a very sturdy table; place the stopper on the wood with the top of the stopper down; center the punch in the inner ring of the stopper and whack it a couple of times with the hammer.

Roll out a snake of clay about the diameter of the inner ring of the stopper. Taper one end so that it is small enough to fit through the hole in the stopper. Insert the narrow end of the clay through the stopper from bottom to top.

While holding the clay firmly in the stopper, mash down the narrow part on top. You can spread it out as wide as you want. Just don’t disturb the core of clay going through the hole. Trim the bottom part of the clay to about 1/4 inch. Make sure the bottom part of the clay is the same diameter as the inner ring of the stopper. Insert it into the bottle to make sure it will fit, but DO NOT put the stopper all the way in. If you do, you will tear the inner clay core when you try to take it out for baking.

You can stop here, but you can make one additional enhancement if you wish. Use a needle tool to make a channel around the bottom part of the clay. After the stopper is baked, place a tiny rubber band in the channel so it will act as an O-ring. You will have to wrap the rubber band twice to make it tight. The tiny rubber bands can be found in a dollar store in the hair accessory section. You will have to experiment a bit to find the proper size for the channel.

You can bake before decorating the top or after. The clay you put on top will now be anchored to the stopper by the core of clay going through the center. If you bake before decorating, use liquid clay to make the new clay stick to the button on top.

Let the stopper cool thoroughly before trying to insert it into a bottle. If the clay is warm, you can tear the inner core by trying to pull it out.

Fancy Hat Parade

I've been on another Bottles Of Hope craze.  These ladies remind me of the Easter Parade in New York City.

More Bottles of Hope

Brain Cane and metallic clay


 Bottle Flowers, side and top views.

My mission, which I chose to accept...

I seem to be on a mission to produce as many Bottles of Hope (BOHs) as possible.  I made 20 in November and so far in December, I have finished 9.  I'm hoping to make at least 10 each month.  Part of my motivation is because, out of 12 close friends from college, 2 of us have already struggled with breast cancer.  Perhaps if I make enough bottles, I will never need one of my own.

(For non-polymer-clay people, Bottles of Hope are small medicine bottles, only 1 to 2 inches tall, donated to clay guilds by doctors.  Guild members decorate them with polymer clay, put an inspirational message inside and then give them to hospitals.  The nurses give them to cancer patients who are just beginning their chemotherapy.)

The bottles above were inspired by my last long weekend with my college friends.  We stayed in a lovely house owned by American Sikhs in New Mexico.  There were Indian objects all over the house, thus the "turbans" on these bottles.  The colors make me think of the Southwest.

These BOHs are part of my Fancy Hat series.  The feathers are real. The little pink flower is made of cloth and was purchased at Michaels.