Final pictures!

Now that it's all dry, I decided to hang it! Like I said, still a couple final coats left, but it's fun to finally have it up on the wall!

Done!!

Finished!!

Well... mostly :)

Last night I put the final wine label on the canvas, and gave a single coat of Mod Podge to the whole thing. And of course, while it was covered in sticky glue, Simon decided to walk on it! I grabbed him instantly, threw him and his sticky paws in the bath tub, quickly ran over and tried to smooth out the kitty prints (which was difficult because that stuff dries quickly and I didn't want it to start to pearl!), then hopped into a tub to bathe a very unhappy kitty. While I tried to cover up all the kitty prints, there may still be a little Simon mark on there if you look in the right light ;)

Anyway, "where are the pictures??" you ask. Well, it was late, and dark, and every picture I took had ridiculous glare, so I will need to take a picture when there's daylight. Which luckily I work from home tomorrow because on a normal day I leave in the dark and get home in the dark! Ohhh autumn/winter...

Also, still have another coat or two or three to do of Mod Podge, and then finally a spray of clear acrylic sealer. Don't have to do the sealer, but because I used glossy Mod Podge, it's a teensy bit tacky and this will help create a smooth shiny hard surface.

Can't wait to hang it and post pictures!

Day 8: Almost there!

Getting closer! Actually, very close! Today was a wonderfully productive Sunday. Chris and I went to church at 9, went to Starbucks after and read the paper, got a TON of groceries (it's been a while!), then came home and made marshmallows, granola, and rearranged some of our cabinets. Then, when all that was done, it was only 2! So I decided what better to do next than work on the wine label thing! I really got into it, and Chris got into football. Before I knew it, it looked like this:



Only one little corner left! I don't have quite the right sized wine labels left to completely finish, and I'm in desperate need of some more Mod Podge, so this is about as far as I could get for now. I guess in the next week or two I'll have to order some Mod Podge and drink some wine :)

Oh and the picture below is of Simon -- he thought the marshmallow goo was just awesome, and got it everywhere! This is just one of the many unusual places he got marshmallow...


Number of wine labels: Lots! Including Newton Chardonnay from Dan and Cheryl for our anniversary :)

Day 7: Long break!

Long break from the project! Busy busy weekends, weddings, visitors, etc! Now that we're home and things are settling in back to normal, it was time to catch back up. Chris played softball tonight, so I put in No Reservations and summoned my creativity. Which came in handy because I'm starting to really have to get creative to get these darn things to fit! If I do this again, maybe I'll do a 10x10 or something :)

Anyway, today's progress: 11 labels, including Rombauer, Rockbare, and Melville.

Day 6: Big progress

Huge progress today! It was a rainy Sunday so I just sat down and worked for a couple hours on the entire bottom half. I finished all the wrapped edges for the bottom and up the sides as well. It's really starting to come together, and I think it will turn out really great. Today I stuck on the Rochioli label, front and center. I definitely think I'll be needing to get some more glue though, should probably order that soon before I run out!

Day 5: Starting to fill in the holes

I'm getting to the point now that only certain wine labels will fit certain places without covering others up. In retrospect I should have saved the more interesting shaped wine labels for the top layers, but oh well. I did set aside very special wine labels such as the Rochioli we had for our anniversary for the top, but I didn't think about the shape of some labels. Like that purple one you see at the bottom, it was a unique shape but when I'm done you won't be able to see that, unfortunately. Oh well, you live and you learn.

10 more labels applied.

Day 4: Sides

Today was a pretty successful day. I added 13 wine labels, including some wrapped around the sides. Wrapping around the sides is definitely the most difficult part of the project because it makes you strategically hold down all side while simultaneously wrapping around the edge. And because it's a wet glue, it takes some patience. But I got it done :)



I did the decoupaging (yes, decoupaging) while the delicious chicken below was cooking:



...of course when we cut into it, it was almost completely raw. I think there's something wrong with our oven considering the suggested cook time was an hour and after an hour and a half it was still raw inside. Oh well, we just stuck it in a big pot and braised it instead. Lost the crispy skin, but at least we didn't kill ourselves.

Day 3: A first base layer

I took last night to put a couple "base layers" on the canvas. Large labels, with lots of empty space, were the best choices. Here's the result:


You can see the shine around the labels (and on some of the labels) because the finish is pretty shiny. Chris is a fan of the first Columbia Crest label, it's got two top coats on it now and it's very smooth and shiny. I think this could turn out pretty cool :) Actually, Chris is hoping we can do one for every year. We better get a big house....

Day 2: A test run

I decided that the best thing to do first was to make sure that the Mod Podge would work on canvas. I'd seen pictures on the internet of people doing decoupage on canvas, but really better safe than sorry. So last night, I started with just one wine label to make sure it worked.


I chose Columbia Crest Two Vines Chardonnay since we have tons of those, just in case something turned out wrong! I followed the directions, doing a coat underneath the label and on the canvas, rubbing it down. I then let it sit for 1 1/2 hr to dry, then did the top coat. This morning, all dry, it looks like this:


It's nice and smooth, and there's a little bit of a glossy sheen. I will do at least two topcoats on the final product, but the test turned out perfectly! Next time there will be some serious progress for sure. Since we've got the wedding this weekend though, I think there will have to be a bit of a break until I can really start at this next week. Until then, Chris and I will work on getting more wine labels! :)

Day 1: Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start!

Encouraged by my cousin, Sarah, I've decided to blog about my wine label project from beginning to end. So here is my first ever blog!

This project came from our anniversary. For our first anniversary, I got the bright idea to make a piece of art for Chris to hang over our couch. Right now we have picture frames everywhere, but the space above our couch is so large that the little frames just don't do the trick. I decided the best thing to do is a wine label collage. So I ordered a 30x30 canvas, some Mod Podge, and a couple of extra unused California wine labels from eBay to get me started. Though, come the anniversary, I quickly realized that for such a large canvas, I had nowhere near enough wine labels! Chris and I had saved about 25 of our own labels, but still didn't scratch the surface.

So, I called in the reserves! Aka, I called in the moms. The moms helped by saving their own wine labels, and sent them to us on computer paper so we could cut them out and use them on the decoupage. And that brings us to today. Between the moms, and Chris and I saving more wine labels, we decided we finally had enough to get started! So tonight's job: cut out the wine labels.

I started with this:


And 1 1/2 hours later, and only minor interruptions from Simon, we had 82 cut out wine labels:


Not bad for Day 1! Now next time I work on it, it's time for the hard part.... Wish me luck!