Flames of Fun!

This 3 1/2" tall glass bottle started life housing a spice. It is one of about 10 that were a set on a round metal 2-tiered perch. It's destiny would not be the trash after my greedy eyes spotted them and their possibilities. So they sat in the holding department for a few years waiting for my temperamental inspiration to kick in. Now that Fall is upon us here in central New York State, my idea rolodex is spinning fast. As a matter of fact, I could use a real rolodex for my unending lists of ideas. No, maybe not. I'd have to have one for each room. And my purse. Bad thought, there.
But a candle holder was it's true calling, being the candle fanatic that I am. Good thing, too, what with a hurricane and distructive flood, my stores are down. And it's time to make more Fall stuff.

Here's the little bottle, waiting for it's basecoat.

The cap went into the 'little things that need to be kept' bin.

The basecoat is done. On projects this size and larger, I use a high hiding white latex paint that I assume is meant for house interiors. It's an exceptional paint- thick and creamy, with excellent coverage and easy clean up.

Just before I started basecoating the bottle, I had a pretty good idea how I wanted the bottle to look. The primary colors would be black and purple with the flames growing up from the bottom to lick the rim. If you use the paint I did, you know it takes a little longer for it to dry thoroughly. Another project ITW (in the works) was worked on while it was drying. A good hour later, I pencilled in the flames, keeping the eraser handy for any boo-boos or whoa-where-are-you-going lines. Here's the result:

That was easy and painless.
Now- which purple? I love purple. Always have ever since I was given my choice of paint color as a kid. My selection of this color is limited, compared to all the other shades of colors I have available. I love paint. I love color, so you'd think with loving purple like I do, I'd have alot of shades. No. But the shades I do have are awesome. Violet Pansy won the draw.
Here's the first coat. I knew it would look like this, so a second coat was added after the first one dried.

Now I was getting excited. With the purple dry, it was time for some contrast. Just this little bit of black really got me going.

Luckily, only one coat of black was needed, but it made the holidays in the purple show up more than I expected. Purple is finicky. And fickle. What you think is done, isn't quite. So, a dab here and a dab there after the black was dry made me satisfied.
The paintbrush stopped at the rim. Hmm.
Looking without really seeing guided my hand to the Amethyst Metallic. I thought- why not? If I don't like it, I can paint over it. No problem. The first coat looked like this:

Okay. Not too shabby. The second coat looked well enough and didn't draw the eyes away from the flames for long.

I knew what was next and procrastinated by hunting down a short taper to A: see if it fit well in the hole without dropping through, and B: see how the over all project might look. Down in the bottom of the taper drawer was this little candle nub and it happened to be purple-ish. Ah ha. This is what I saw:

It's a little dull and drab and very old, but it served the purpose. So, at this point, I could no longer wait. I started the painstaking process of outlining the purple flames in Purple Glitter. Not fat lines, but just enough to give it a little bling. You might be able to just barely see the glitter in the picture above, and that's how it looked in person. It just wasn't enough. I stopped and waited for it to dry, trying to come up with another alternative.
The poor little candle nub needed help, so the black wavy lines and Silver Glitter outlines came about. It was okay for a quick fix. As the silver glitter was drying, I was happy to see how well it looked. It was worth a try, and there's always a repaint when it came to the bottle. The process started again with the glitter change.

Now, I've never tried overpainting glitter on glitter, so basically, this was an experiment. As the silver over the purple dried, it seemed to take on a life of it's own. Not straight silver with a hint of underlying purple. Hard to explain. But this made me happy.

I lit the candle this morning before the Sun came up and it looked pretty good. Just enough sparkle showed. In a darkened room, it's a sight!
My experiments in the past have brought me some beautifully surprising results. I'd have to say at least 85% of what I do is an experiment, and not many have been flubs or duds. The many paint mediums and different supplies I have on had are fun to play with. So, don't be afraid to play. Go out on a limb, but hang on to that least leaf. If you drop, you'll most likely end up in a freshly raked leaf pile. What a way to go!

Have fun. Be creative. Enjoy the harvest.

Toodles.