DIY Message in a Bottle

Ever since recycling glass stopped in my county, I’ve been trying to come up with fresh ways to repurpose the glass bottles I end up with. Now that summer is on the horizon, my head is already in the sand- beach sand, that is. So, this time around, I had an idea for DIY message in a bottle that I wanted to try.

I know, I know- no glass recycling is the absolute pits! However, I’ve been more inspired than ever to upcycle all of our glass bottles- such as these seaglass bottles that I also made.

BUT, I think you’re really going to like how this project turns out, and it’s insanely easy to make.

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Upcycle Wine Bottles for Coastal Decor

To get started on my idea, I first needed to remove all the labels/foil from my bottles. My method involves soaking the wine bottles in a bucket of hot water for a while- and some labels melt right off with this alone.

For those that leave sticky residue, I use a favorite cleaner of mine to help take it all off.

But one of my bottles must have had a really weird shape for air flow because even after 4 days, it hadn’t dried out inside! So, I reached into my scientist background and used a laboratory desiccant (don’t worry, it’s non-toxic) which dried it out in a few moments.

Because I was recreating the look of a message in a bottle, I needed to “age” my bottles ever so slightly, as if they had tumbled along the ocean floor.

I used a colorless sea glass spray, from the same line of spray paints as this seaglass bottle project of mine. But instead of spraying close and heavy for an opaque finish, I sprayed lightly from further away.

And it worked brilliantly! The bottles had exactly the look I was going for.

Basically, I was going for the “underwater schmutz” look.

The next step was adding a finger or two of sand into the bottom of each bottle.

I “borrowed” some sand from the Florida shore when I visited my parents. But you could use decorative sand if you don’t have access to the real thing.

With that, the “bottle” portion of message in a bottle was done and it was time to focus on the “message” part!

DIY Message in a Bottle for Beach Wedding Decor

For the “message” part of message in a bottle, I repurposed pages from my “upcycling book”.

I bought that book at a thrift expressly for projects several years ago.

I removed a page and folded/tore along each edge for a natural look.

Then, I carefully rolled the page around a pen, applying a glue stick along the last inch or so to secure it.

Once it had dried/set, I wrapped some hemp cord around the center as insurance (and to add to the natural look).

There- a message for my message in a bottle!

To finish off the message in a bottle idea, I grabbed some wine corks from my stash. 

After finding one that fit in the bottle, I wrapped it with additional hemp cord.

DIY Message in a Bottle

And voila! Just like that, I had transformed some empty wine bottles into DIY message in a bottle that I could use as coastal decor!

Wouldn’t these also be wonderful for beach wedding decor, too? Such an easy way to go about recycling glass and reusing wine bottles into crafts!

Aren’t they great? I love, seriously LOVE, how they look- especially as a cluster, which I’ll place around the house this summer.

If you enjoyed this upcycling idea for ocean decor or beach room decor, then you may also love these beach vacation memory jars, too!

Craft on!

S

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