I Heart Wine Bottle Stopper

Keep your wine nice and fresh with this I Heart Wine Bottle Stopper from Diamond Tech.  Handmade wine stoppers like this make great gifts and are a fun way to present your favorite bottle of wine!  Make one for your Valentine, too!

Find this wine bottle project plus many more in our free eBook, 25 Cool Things to Do with Wine Bottles.

Materials:

• 1 pc Fuseworks™ Clear Dichroic Sheet Glass
• 1 pc Fuseworks™ Transparent Red Sheet Glass
• 1 – 4 ½” piece each- red, copper & purple 26 gauge colored wire
• 5 - Clear Glass Seed Beads
• 5 – Diamond Cut Faceted Glass Beads, Ruby colored 4mm V-cut
• Fuseworks™ Kiln Paper
• Fuseworks™ Microwave Kiln
• Fuseworks™ Glass Cutter
• Fuseworks™ Round Bottle Stopper
• E6000® or other glass/metal glue
• Needle Nose Pliers
• Fuseworks™ Light Weight Running Pliers
• Scythe Stone or a fine glass file
• Diagram 1
• Diagram 2
• Pattern

Instructions:

1. Measure and mark the following glass sheets:  Clear Dichroic – one – 1 1/4” circle; two - ¼” random sized pieces; Red – one each –pattern pieces: #1, #2, #3 & #4
    
2. Clean glass using paper towel moistened with water. Completely dry the surface of the glass with a lint free cloth.
    
3. Circles can be scored freehand or with a circle cutter. First, score the circle, making sure that you start and stop the score line at the same point.
    
4. Turn the glass over onto a piece of corrugated cardboard with the score line face down. With your fingers, press along the score line until you see the score line "runs" completely around the circle.
    
5. Turn the glass over to the side on which you scored. Score several tangent cuts off the circle, see diagram.
    
6. Break these tangential scores with your hands or pliers. The circle should break out clean with no rough or jagged edges.
    
7. Next, cut a 2” X 2” piece of kiln paper. Remove the lid from the Fuseworks™ Kiln. Place the kiln paper on the kiln base.
    
8. Layer the glass on the kiln paper. Start with the clear dichroic 1 1/4” circle, dichroic side down. Next, configure the heart by centering glass piece #3 & #4 side-by-side (Diagram 1) on top of the circle. Stack glass pieces #1 & #2 on top of #3 & #4 and position randomly shaped dichroic bits one on each side of the heart globs.
    
9. Carefully set the kiln base inside the microwave. Cover base and glass with kiln lid.
    
10. Fuse in a 1200 WATT microwave at full (100%) power for 2 minutes PLEASE NOTE: All microwave and kiln combinations will have different firing patterns. Be sure to take careful notes and log all fusing times for future use. For microwaves with less wattage increase the fusing times no more than a minute for the first fuse.
     
11. After time has expired, open microwave and using Hot Mitts; carefully lift the lid enough to inspect the fusing process. Glass edges should appear nicely rounded. If not, continue fusing by adding 15 second increments to the time until desired results are achieved. Remove kiln from microwave using the Hot Mitts and place on a heat resistant surface. Cool the kiln for 30-45 minutes with the lid on. PLEASE NOTE: Removing the lid or peeking under the lid during the cooling will result in your piece cracking. Glass remains hot for a long time and should be handled with great caution.
     
12. Cut one 4 ½” lengths of purple, copper and red wire. Working with one section at a time, run one end of the wire through a seed bead. Use needle nose pliers to wrap 1/4 inch of the wire around the bead so the wires meet at the base, twist wires together to secure. Repeat these steps for each length of wire.
    
    
    
    
     
13. Next, slide a faceted (or V-cut) bead to the end of the wire until it rests against the seed bead. To prevent the bead from sliding off, coil the wire closest to the bead around a tooth pick about ¼”.
    
    
    
    
     
14. Remove toothpick to reveal a small curl in the wire. Repeat this step on all three wires.
     
15. Reverse this process for the opposite ends of two of the wire lengths, leaving the center of the wires straight. Start by curling the wire, sliding faceted bead and seed bead onto the end, wrap and twisting to secure in place. Bend each of the wire in half to find their centers. Using the wire with a single set of beads at the end, wrap the end without beads around the centers of the other wires to secure together, nip off any extra wire. Spread the wires apart at equal distances similar to a star design.
     
16. When the fused heart medallion is cool, put a drop of E6000® glue in the center of the rounded bottle stopper head. Center the wire star on the surface of the stopper so that the wires are embedded in the glue. Place the fused heart medallion on top of the wire and press. Allow to dry according to the manufacturer’s instructions on a level surface.