Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Removing a Wine Bottle Label

As promised, the next topic I want to cover is how to remove a wine bottle label.  This is the first step for me when I make one of my lamps.  I will not be saving the labels in this tutorial.


 My first job is to pick the bottle I want to use.  My favorite bottles are the ones I have collected from the Blumenhof winery near Washington, MO.  If you are ever in the area, I definitely recommend it.  I love the scenic location, and their blush wine is excellent.  I am not usually a wine drinker, but I do love this one.  On the weekends, they also have a food stand that serves delicious sandwiches, and they usually have a band playing.  It is one of my favorite places to collect bottles because they have such great lines and colors. I especially like their blue ones.






These are the two bottles that I am going to be using for future projects.  I will be making a peacock wine bottle lamp out of the blue one, and a nightlight for my son out of the clear one.

 



The easiest way to remove a wine bottle label is simply to soak it for as long as possible.  I fill my sink with the hottest water possible and some dish soap.  Next I put a little dish soap into the wine bottle and fill it with water so that it will sink.  You should soak them for a minimum of four hours, but I prefer to leave them in overnight.
 



 The next day, I empty the sink and remove the bottles. On some bottles, the label will already be floating in the water, but most need a little more work. I peel off as much of the label as I can. This picture shows how much I was able to peel off without any tools.





Then take a sponge with a non abrasive scrubbing surface on one side of it and scrub off whatever is left. This should remove everything, however if you have a stubborn spot, you can always use a glass scraper as a last resort.  The label removing process took me about 10 minutes for both bottles, and I was able to remove the rest of the label with only my sponge.  Once they are clean, I turn them upside down on a paper towel to dry.




The bottles are now ready for whatever project you want to start.  I  am going to cut the bottoms off of these bottles, and I will cover that process in the future.  I hope this helps you with your wine bottle crafts!

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