Bombay Sapphire blue

[Blue Box Studio]

I can't work out where to ask this so here goes.  I want to make some beads from a Bombay Sapphire bottle.  I was given a bottle, about 10 years old apparently (part full and left over from a party - for 10 years?  Wouldn't happen in my house.) but having soaked it to remove the label, the blue is definitely sprayed on, you can scrape it off with a finger nail and it's clearly plastic.  So I've ditched that bottle.  I don't drink gin quick enough to get through a bottle in a few weeks and wanted to make these beads for a fair I'm doing early December (fair trade, Eco, handmade etc) so, before I go off and find another bottle, is there any clue why some bottles are solid blue glass and some are sprayed on?  What defines which?  I don't think I'd be welcome in Tesco testing the bottles for scrape-ability - and the first one wasn't obvious until it was soaked (which it needed after 10 years in a cupboard).

Any clues, before I turn into a gin addict (wouldn't be hard).

Any other pretty coloured bottles that you know of?  Husband's Belgian beer collection is too brown and the Bristol blue of Harvey's is a bit overdone in Bristol.

[firedinglass]

When i used to make things from recycled bottles, a couple of years ago, there  was a type of water that came in  a blue bottle that  worked really well, it was a gorgeous royal blue.  Sorry i can't remember it's name but it must have come from Sainsbury's or waitrose!

[Carol]

there  was a type of water that came in  a blue bottle that  worked really well, it was a gorgeous royal blue

Aldi's mineral water 

[ARBeads]

Never had a Bombay Sapphire that wasn't glass, though they have been a modern variety - you need to discard the etched bits of the side as they go all black and scummy.

Not much help am I, search out the ancient Harveys Bristol cream from the christmas stash, beautiful dark blue.

[stuwaudby]

Blue Nun - but find someone else to drink it for you!

[Blue Box Studio]

Thanks.  I can afford a bottle of water, cheaper than gin!  My gin bottle was definitely clear glass underneath, perhaps the newer versions are solid glass.  There was another thread on here where someone had said she thought the colour was sprayed on.

[Flyingcheesetoastie]

Was it a duty free bottle?  When I went to Turkey we were experimenting with bottles that had been....um... emptied quite shortly after purchase on the way over, anyway we were kiln-joining them and vacuum pumping and making them glow, irrelevant, but most of them lost the colour in the firing as it was a plastic layer on clear glass.

[Redhotsal]

Wow - perhaps the sprayed bottles were counterfeit?
The "real" Bombay gin does have a blue glass.

[Donna@Rockin' Beads]

The only beads I've ever made from a recycled bottle were from a bottle of Bombay Sapphire. I didn't realise about the scummy etching but the glass was blue all the way through.... Lovely. That was last year. Maybe the newer bottles are blue and the older ones just sprayed.

[Trudi]

It is a gorgeous blue, the Bombay Sapphire Gin, but be warned it is a lot stiffer than your normal 104 glass!


Sapphire Fizz by Glittering Prize - Trudi, on Flickr


Bombay Sapphire by Glittering Prize - Trudi, on Flickr

[Mand]

I made some beads yesterday with a lemon juice bottle  -lovely and green. I have also made Bombay Sapphire ones, took an age but it was worth it (AND it was on a HH - I must have been mad!)

A couple of years ago Katiequiggle made a gorgeous set with a lovely pale greeny merlot bottle and etched - they looked stunning.  She also made some jam jar beads rolled in frit and tehy were really pretty too.

The blue mineral water bottle you're thinking of is quite a Bristol sort of blue - Ty Nant and you can get it in Waitrose.  They also do a "red" bottle but alas that is sprayed on.

Mand x

[Steampunkglass]

Was it a duty free bottle?  When I went to Turkey we were experimenting with bottles that had been....um... emptied quite shortly after purchase on the way over, anyway we were kiln-joining them and vacuum pumping and making them glow, irrelevant, but most of them lost the colour in the firing as it was a plastic layer on clear glass.

Now that sound like sooo much fun!!! 

[Hotglass28]

You could use the blue nun as drain cleaner

I used to use black tower too in my fusings at uni.  Blut thats black, not blue. 

[arachnia]

Was the mineral water perrier or nyant or somat like that blue ked or similar?

I like the bombay colour its lush.

[mariag]

I made this bracelet for a college project on jewellery using recycled or found materials. I used a Harvey's Bristol Cream bottle & a Spanish mineral water bottle & rolled some of the beads in BeadySam's Monet frit & left some plain.