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Violin
Date Added: 15 December 2009
From the artist, Terry Butler: "This is a project I started about a year ago. I bought some empty miniature airline bottles on ebay and the seller kindly sent me this bottle as a bonus. The bottle measures approx. 6" high , 2.5" wide and 1" deep. The opening is just 3/8" which made this a HUGE challenge. To give you an idea of the opening size I cut a cork in half heightwise and colored it black. I used that as a riser/stand UNDER the violin inside the bottle. The diameter of this cork is the size of the opening of the bottle. It barely squeezed through the opening with pressure. I have not cut or manipulated the bottle in ANY way. I bought the miniature violin on ebay - a very detailed miniature in wood. I then segmented this into maybe 10-12 pieces. I don't remember exactly now as I did much of the work last year. I managed to reassemble the body of the tiny violin inside the bottle and masked all the seams with oil paints and varnish (maybe 6 or 7 coats) Then I set it aside for a LONG time to dry and cure. I decided to try to finish it up today and spent all day on it. I've glued the cork to the bottom of the bottle, the violin is glued into place on top of that and leaned against the back of the bottle where another drop of tacky glue holds it steady in the middle. You'll see this in one photo as the glue is still white right now. I thought I had taken photos of this in many pieces but if I did I can't find it. Maybe I didn't take any after all. I have to tell you - putting this back together OUTSIDE of the bottle would have been a huge challenge given the tiny pieces this was in after segmenting. Assembling this INSIDE the bottle was HORRIBLE. I don't plan to do another one EVER. What was I thinking??? One of a kind though. I've never seen another impossible bottle like it EVER!"
Type: Violin in a Bottle   Maker's Name: Butler, Terry
Category: Furniture   Made Where: Eastern Tennessee
Bottle Size: 6" x 2 1/5"   Year Made: 2009
Bottle Type: Obstler Bottle