Behind the Scenes: Delabeling the Bottles

I mentioned in my first post that, when it comes to making things, I enjoy working with things that aren't what people normally think of when they hear the term "crafts." I don't work with paper, or knitting needles, or beads. I prefer things like wood, nails, glass, twine, and resin. One of my favorite things to do lately is to upcycle empty glass bottles.

So far, my projects with bottles have involved wrapping the bottles in jute twine and adding some sort of accent. You can see examples of both the twine-flower and the stencil-flower versions of my bottles in our Etsy store.

One of the necessary evils in working with empty wine and beer bottles is that I have to remove the labels. Until now, that has meant soaking the bottles in warm, soapy water and going at it with a razor blade. (Side note: This makes Julie very nervous. And considering the number of times I've injured myself doing it, it should.) Fortunately, I came across this blog post from Healthy, Wealthy & DIYs and it made a world of difference.

Before. Apparently we like Barefoot. And Starbucks.

After. More info about what worked and what didn't below

It was SO much easier than just warm, soapy water! All I needed was a rough washcloth and the adhesive came right off. The other trick that I picked up on was filling the bottles with hot water before soaking them. From what I can tell, it helped break down the adhesive more and kept the bottles underwater better (duh, Archimedes).

And now the awards:

Easiest Label to Remove: Sequin Moscato (polka dots). One of the labels actually fell off on it's own in the water. I'm excited that I didn't have to scrub that one — I have plans for those polka-dots.

Hardest Label to Remove: Barefoot Pinot Noir (far left, pale green). I scrubbed, and scrubbed, and scrubbed. There's still adhesive all over the front and back. It's clean enough to wrap in twine, though!

Dishonorable Mention: Starbucks Frappuccino bottles. Turns out plastic labels protect the adhesive really well.

The best part of it all? I have sixteen more bottles ready for upcycling, and no bandages on my hands! Whoo hoo!