Bernard Kelly

Worked the "sea" a bit.
 


 

A motley crew for sure. I made 'em a bit shaggy so I could try and get a sensation of motion. The close up photo looks horrible as always, hoping from a distance it looks more like sunglasses than bug eyes.

I really love it myself.  In case you don't know, Greg Alvey has a website called Folk Art in Bottles. There is a section where you can look up artists alphabetically. If you look up this gentleman,s name, there is a little article written by him on how he does his work, along with some pictures of other work he has done. 

I have a SIB collection as well as some folk art in bottles. I found this bottle on ebay, that is both of those. It is so interesting and different, I thought you folks might appreciate  a look. It came in the mail today and I found that the artists name is Jim Devaney.
 

I wouldn't want to meet them on a dark night tho'. 😁

Crew selection has been made.

Just completed Hms Campbeltown (ex 131 Buchanan) depicting  the raid on St.Nazaire docks in 1942. Not that easy to depict a dockyard in a 75cl bottle but you get the idea.

Just messing around with a quick "Bluenose" to launch in a little pumpkinseed bottle.

My second ship I definitely over-reached and tried the same thing as you, detaching the masts and assembling in the bottle.  I ended up with a rat's nest that would never be untangled.  Not willing to give up on the hundred hours I'd invested, after taking a few months off, I took a hammer to the bottle, rescued the ship, refit her using wire hinges on the masts, found a slightly bigger bottle, and successfully re-launched her.
I hope you don't give up on SIBs permanently!  Good luck!

Welcome to the group!

Welcome!  Finding bottles is a fun part of this hobby.  I always keep an eye out in thrift stores and antique shops.  Hobby stores have some pretty good ones as well.  Most importantly though tell all your friends who drink that you build ships in bottles.  They'll show up with a ton of bottles.  Usually they'll ask if the bottles are good enough.  I tell them if they aren't I'll throw them away for you.  My friends have brought me some really good ones. 

Welcome aboard bsmith.
I sometimes buy bottles from charity shops.I think you call them thrift stores in the states. Quite often you can pick up a nice specimen for a few bucks. Other than that I get them from friends or else bottle banks.
Resources, well first delve into this site for some great tips; perhaps invest in a ships in bottles book and then set about deciding what ship or boat you really want to make.  Get drawings from books or the net and size them to fit your bottle. The internal size of your bottle will determine the scale of the model .A lot of tools can be home made . I'm sure other people can chip in here to give some good advice.

Hey Everyone, excited to be joining this group! I have always had a fascination with ships in bottles and have finally decided to build one.
 
My other modeling subjects mostly revolve around wooden ship models of various scales ranging from 1/48, 1/96, and 1/128. I am hoping I can leverage some of these skills on this endeavor.
 
What are some resources people would recommend for a first time ship in bottle builder? Also, what are people's favorite places to buy bottles?

Hi John.
That is fascinating. I imagine that rolling the paper around the tube was quite difficult as the paper would have a tendency to slacken off at one end whilst being tight at the other. Sometimes when I roll paper it tends to skew because keeping it taut all round the centre is difficult.
Looking great though John. Keep posting the pics, I love seeing them.
Best wishes 
Bernard

Hey John very cool. Question would you be willing to summarize everything and put it into an article for the Bottled ShipWright Journal?
Secondly, I would like to add you as an honorary member of the Journal. Are you okay with it?
 
Jeff

Hi John.
That is fascinating. I imagine that rolling the paper around the tube was quite difficult as the paper would have a tendency to slacken off at one end whilst being tight at the other. Sometimes when I roll paper it tends to skew because keeping it taut all round the centre is difficult.
Looking great though John. Keep posting the pics, I love seeing them.
Best wishes 
Bernard

Hi John
Nice work. Very precise work, but I bet it was darned fiddly. Looking forward to seeing your progress.
Best of luck.
Bernard
 

Greetings Bernard,
I use both hand when rolling the paper around the tube, one near each end, but also move them into the middle occasionally. When it start going ascrew, I loosen it up just a wee bit and correct it as I reroll the paper. Thanks for the comment, I do try! <Grin>
Anchor's A Weigh!
John Fox III

Thanks Moab, Just started yesterday, but already found out if the basic form is there on day 1  (the epoxy hardens a little quick for me) It's easier to add detail on day 2 because the basic form is hardened, and doesn't move when you add on a bit here and there. I also pulled this old moveable figure guy from a dusty closet and posed him the way I want the sailor to be, then try and bend the wire to the proportions of moveable guy. Challenging but I am  finding it an enjoyable endeavor. 

I am trying to make some little sailors to sail the Hobie's and it is turning out to be more difficult than I thought. since they are so small.  Oh well, thus the life of a bottled ship builder.  I found some 2 part epoxy for this purpose and formed some 24 gauge wire to put the epoxy putty on.

Obviously with anything new there is a learning curve so consequently, I have numerous partially done sailors that just wouldn't make the cut. 

 
I tried to pose them doing what they should be doing when they should be doing it but still a work in progress.

 
I am in the process of painting them with some acrylic paints and trying to figure out how to anchor them.

 

Have you thought of printing your own waterslide decals for the numbers. I've used this a couple of times for ship's names. A pack of A4 sheets is only about £5 in the UK. I get the right size by printing out different fonts and sizes on paper plus any other suitable detailing, cutting out and trying for size. When correct I print the decals, a couple of copies in case of mistakes. I still have about 4.5 sheets so its going to last.
The windows and name on the Colvic Watson 28 SIB in the phot were made this way
Alan

Finished up my sails, I probably made 8 or 10 between spraying the wrong colors, getting battens on too large, my dog actually ate my finished jib sail but all is well in the end. I ordered some numbers which arrived but I miscalculated and they are too large, so I've ordered more. While I wait, I turned my attention to the sea. I am going to try something different so these initial steps are just a test. I think it will be too difficult to create the ocean, or sea that appears the way I like because this Asbach bottle is so long. I got some acrylic modeling paste and smeared it on some watercolor paper. I then moved it around and put some acrylic paint on it. After it was dry I found you can bend it and move it quite a lot without cracking or paint chipping off. Once in the bottle the paper is rounded out a bit but I plan to pour epoxy resin in as a base. Once dry I can put in the ocean and glue it flat to the resin base. Thoughts, ideas, critiques anyone?

Interesting thread. Along these lines, I have a bottle in my collection that has some type of either mold or calcium deposits or something on it. I have had this bottle a while with no plans to clean it as it looks hauntingly unique, but I'm curious if anyone has any idea what this might be inside?

Its been 3 months since the mould problem, and luckily it hasnt returned, made sure to glue the cork in aswell. Thanks to all who contributed the great advise, it really helped! 😁

Hi John.
That is fascinating. I imagine that rolling the paper around the tube was quite difficult as the paper would have a tendency to slacken off at one end whilst being tight at the other. Sometimes when I roll paper it tends to skew because keeping it taut all round the centre is difficult.
Looking great though John. Keep posting the pics, I love seeing them.
Best wishes 
Bernard