Daily Affirmations with Jerri Blank

The world uses too much plastic! In addition to owning more Siggs/Klean Kanteens than is probably normal, I use old jam jars as drinking glasses in my house and have taken to hoarding old G.T.'s Kombucha bottles. As my friend Jennifer No pointed out, they fit perfectly in a standard bicycle bottle holder. I've also held on to the few empty booze bottles that have been collecting in our bar area. And now, after much procrastination and daydreaming, I've finally started learning how to do glass etching at home!

The inspiration for my first piece came from hours spent watching Strangers With Candy on Hulu.com. It echoes Jerri Blank's life-affirming mantra, "I was a boozer, a user, and a loser!" Not only that, but it takes it one step further- by giving you MULTIPLE CHOICES. Behold!

This 7 oz. glass bottle was a mini size of Jim Beam that came shrink-wrapped to the 1.75 liter jug (it has a handle, that qualifies it as a jug, right?) of Jim Beam we bought from Costco, purveyors of everything under the sun in truly American quantities. 

Using a printout of a basic MS Word document, I taped the copy paper to a section of contact paper and then taped that to a self-healing Olfa cutting board. Using a sharp Exacto blade, I cut out the design and then carefully applied it to the bottle. I had to make an effort to remember all the free-floating shapes to fill in "o"s and "e"s. Then some quality time with etching cream (which, by the way, is one of those 'locked cabinet' items at the art supply store), a little water to rinse, and voila! 

I topped the whole thing off with a nice cork bottle stopper that used to belong to a bottle of olive oil. I's like to think Jerri would approve:

I will be making plenty more of these soon for the shop! I'll be saving (and scouring my local area for) small used bottles in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, and with a variety of messages. If inspiration strikes you, I'll be more than happy to provide a customized inscription! These don't have to be used as flasks, either-- they'll be great for other liquids like water or juice, or for taking to the bulk section of your grocery store to stock up on oils, soy sauce, and maple syrup. Or you could stick some beans in 'em. I don't know, go crazy!