Saeson 1: I Dream of Jeannie Bottle - A Work in Progress

[darkknight0667]

So, I figure that one of these:

would be about my speed as a first painting project. It's not that I'm a huge Jeannie fan, but it's highly recognizable and as I said, it looked pretty easy.

So, off to ebay I went a while back and picked up two of the base bottles (1963 Jim Beam Decanters - usually available for between $25 and $35 on ebay). I plan on using the second bottle later to create a replica of the bottle used for Seasons 2-5, which is much more colorful and therefore difficult. I'm using real gold leaf paint, to really make it POP!

Here's the top to the second bottle (I forgot to take a shot of the one I was painting before I started):


Here we are about halfway through:


And, here it is with the top finished:


For an hour's work, I'm pretty pleased with it. Let me know what you think of it so far.

I'll post more photos of the bottle itself, once I get to painting it.


Oh, and just a warning for anyone that wants to do one of these themselves, the paint cleans up with Xylene, a really nasty little chemical. If you use this, DO NOT pour this stuff into a plastic cup:

I went to clean up the small detail brush that I did the "tear drops" with and found that half of the cup was missing! DAMN!!! Plus, the stuff stinks and the smell lingers for a really long time, so make sure you've got plenty of ventilation.
_________________
Pete

[amish]

Pete,

That is fantastic!! After recently learning about this prop from Pete, I am dying to get one of my own. I think this may be one of the few things my wife would actualy think is cool.

Also, great job on the painting! The detail looks spot on compared to the one in the TV show.

I am really digging this

Tom

[darkknight0667]

Thanks, Tom. The instant recognizability was a big factor behind me choosing this. When my wife woke up this morning, she asked what I had been painting that stank up the whole apartment (2+ hours after I finished painting, the smell was still lingering). I showed her the top and she knew immediately what it was.

I'm hoping to do more this weekend, though our monthly Poker game is going to interrupt things a bit. But, at least the weather's supposed to be nice, so I can go paint on the front steps and not stink up place up again.

Now, I just have to find a container that the Xylene won't dissolve.
_________________
Pete

[KarlBud420]

Hmm...apparently, I'm not at all familiar with the Season 1 bottle. I've always seen the pinkish/purplish as the definitive version but this is good to know!

Be careful with the xylene as there are warnings that static electricity can ignite it from a distance. You might want to use some kind of glass container as it's naturally inert and resilient against most harsh chemicals.

Bruce

[darkknight0667]

Apparently, the first season was filmed in B&W, so a really colorful bottle would have been useless, so they went with a very simple gold design on the smoke bottle. After the first season, they went to filming in color, so they upped the visual appeal of the bottle to take advantace of it. I have a second bottle that I plan on painting in the purple version.

If you want to really go nuts with these, there are four more versions beyond these: a blue version used by Jeannie's evil sister, another blue version that was for the Blue Djinn that originally trapped Jeannie in her bottle, and versions of the Jeannie and Evil Sister bottles that were made for the reunion movie back in the early 80's.

Thanks for the xylene warning, Bruce. I had read that it was pretty nasty stuff and that breathing the fumes was really evil, but I hadn't heard about the static thing. I am planning on using a glass cup in the future. That plastic thing really caught me off guard.
_________________
Pete

[Locutus]

Sweet! I never knew what bottle that was, but as you say it's very recognizable!
That one and the Trek Saurian Brandy bottle would look really good on a shelf in the dining room...
Nice paint job, can't wait to see the color version - if the Xylene doesn't kill you first!
Maybe to avoid that you could use the dry apply gold leaf with a clear coat over it?
_________________
"Your life as you know it is now over. You exist to service us" ~ newborn child to parent

[darkknight0667]

The xylene is really just for cleaning the brushes, so as long as I do that outside, I should be fine. I've made some more progress and have to re-do a small portion - I wasn't paying attention and smudged the leaves around the top a bit. I'll take some shots this weekend and, hopefully, make some more progress.
_________________
Pete

[darkknight0667]

Well . . . I had a major disaster, but I learned a valuable lesson: Never try to carry your half painted bottle in the same hand as your open jar of paint, bad things happen.

Needless to say, the xylene got a really good workout as I had to scrub off all the leaves and vines from the bottle in preparation for starting all over. A bit maddening, but can ya do?

Hopefully, I'll start the leaves over again tonight.
_________________
Pete

[Hero of Canton]

What a drag! A friend of mine has been collecting these bottles for years, in fact I gave him one I picked up at an estate sale for like $5! A year or two ago he got a CD from someone on ebay who had done extensive research and copied patterns onto a disc. I think they were here: http://www.towerwebsites.com/occasionalgifts
_________________
If wishes were horses, we'd all be eatin' steak.

[darkknight0667]

Yeah, it did suck! Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures of it in it's disasterous state. Suffice it to say, there was about half a jar of 18k gold leafing paint poured down the side of the bottle. If you look closely at the pictures below, you can see the remnants all over my coffee table (thankfully, it's a hand-me-down piece that neither of us really care about).

BUT . . . .

I really hit the painting hard today (interrupted by a trip to the zoo for a couple hours), and re-did the whole thing.

Here it is with the leaves and vines all repainted:


After that, I added the stripes:


So far so good. Then, it was on to the spots at the top:


The last step is to do the indentations around the base:


And here is the finished bottle:


For my first painting project, I'm really pretty proud of this piece. Is it perfect? No, but I don't care. It's close enough for my taste.

Oh, and the CD that HoC mentions is definitely worth investing in if you're planning on tackling one or more of these.
_________________
Pete

[GeneralMayhem]

I got one of these bottles unpainted as a gift. Unfortunately, the cork and O-rings were unsalvageable and need to be replaced before I commit myself to a paint job.
_________________
Shadow Dale Creations
Live Your Fantasy!
Armor, Costumes, Fashion, and Movie Reproductions.
Custom Orders Welcome

[darkknight0667]

As you can see from my before picture of the bottle top, one of the bottles I bought needs those parts as well.

The cork is easy to replace. Most craft stores will have the correct size (I don't remember it at the moment). All you'll need to do is drill a hole through the center and then shorten it to the correct length.

The rings, though, are another matter. I'm thinking of using a piece of styrene, like a "For Sale" sign to make them. It's not perfect, but I think it'll do.
_________________
Pete

[GeneralMayhem]

I think the O-rings are more likely made of polypropylene, the type of plastic cutting boards are made from. I'll probably cut them from some of the scraps I have left over from making armor.
_________________
Shadow Dale Creations
Live Your Fantasy!
Armor, Costumes, Fashion, and Movie Reproductions.
Custom Orders Welcome