It takes a lot of patience, and steady nerves, if you want to make a ship in a bottle. You’ll invest hours of time, and lots of money, but the finished piece is magnificent. You can do something similar to create an interesting arrangement inside of a wine bottle. But you won’t have to spend all that time and money; it’s a very simple process to “build” many different things inside the bottle. When you’re finished, use the bottle as a table centerpiece, a mantle accent, or even as a gift.
After the chosen bottle is clean and dry, you can begin creating the scene inside. Instead of putting things right at the bottom, you can make a pedestal for the scene. To do this, use a cylinder of Styrofoam or even wood. You’ll find these at a craft store; choose one with a diameter the same size, or smaller, than the opening of the wine bottle. You can paint the pedestal or use it as-is.
To insert a Styrofoam cylinder, first push a wooden skewer through one end. Apply some hot glue to the opposite end and carefully push the cylinder through the opening. Press the glued end against the bottom of the bottle and hold it until it sets. Remove the skewer.
To insert a wooden cylinder, place a tiny dot of hot glue on one end. Stick a small-diameter, wooden dowel to it. Use this as the handle to put the cylinder in place. Apply hot glue to the opposite end, push the cylinder through the opening, and wait for the glue to set. Hold the cylinder down with a skewer as you pull the wooden dowel off of the cylinder.
After you have a base in place you can add any number of details. Attach tiny, silk flowers, add shells, or even make foam shapes. When you cut a foam shape, like a boat, you can easily insert it into the bottle. After cutting the shape, and adding any details you want, loosely roll boat, and lower it onto the cylinder. With a bit of glue applied to the cylinder, you can easily attach the boat. If needed, use a skewer to unroll the foam shape.
Craft stores have all sorts of miniatures that you could put inside the wine bottle. Lower miniature people, a flag on a pole, a rubber pet, or another choice, and glue it to the pedestal. You can also litter things on the inside bottom of the bottle itself, like tiny rose petals, bitty shells, beans, rhinestones, glitter, tiny stones, or other embellishments.
When you’re finished creating the scene you want, just cork the bottle, and set it anywhere in the house. It makes a lovely accent for a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, or other area of the home.