Whimsical Napkin Rings & Matching Glasses

This week we finished a fun project for a client who wanted drinking glasses made from New Amsterdam gin (a gift for her sister Ginny!) with a monogram etched on them. This is a cheap gin in a great bottle... they turned out so pretty!


She also wanted matching napkin rings using as much of the bottle as possible, so instead of cutting rings out of the neck, we cut them below the neck. The vine design from the monogram was etched on these too. We love the way they turned out, and will definitely do more in this style!



Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to visit the studio soon!

Mosaic Note Cards

This week at Water Candy, we have been working with paper again, and making mosaic note cards! Thanks, Tiffany, for the idea! We love to make mosaics, and have done countertops, tiles, trivets, and mirrors, all out of a mix of sea glass and recycled glass.

We wanted to reinterpret the "real thing" as a little more abstract, so we photographed a few of our favorites, and redesigned them as paintings . They were printed on vellum, and overlaid on a textured ivory cardstock. This helps to preserve the dimensional feel of the original mosaic.

These three started from the same mosaic, a multi colored free-form design we did on a trivet.

The octopus

and the starfish were both tiles that we did for a custom order, so we don't have them anymore, but thankfully we photographed them first!

These look so cute in the studio, the perfect mix of glass and paper, and what a nice way to send someone a little bit of the Caribbean!

In other news, we are amassing quite a collection of Jagermeister bottles from the bars ( we love our Jager here!) and we're not sure what to do with them...they are not quite right for drinking glasses, they are a little short for lamps, but they have a great color and we love the raised lettering...any suggestions?

Thanks for stopping by, and come visit the studio soon!

Water Candy Sushi

This week in Tillett Gardens, the Chamber of Commerce met for it's monthly Business After Hours, a networking and socializing event that is hosted by a different location each month. All of the shops here were open, and we all provided some sort of light appetizer.

We wanted to stay within theme, so we made Water Candy Sushi! This was a fun recipe that was found on the Mommy Knows blog http://www.mommyknows.com/birthday-party-candy-sushi/

We didn't document the process with photos, (because hers are so good)...and we're glad we didn't...up to our elbows in butter! If anyone wants to try this, truly, you can't use enough butter.
You begin by melting butter and marshmallows, then stirring in rice krispies. Instead of putting them in a pan, they are spread out thin on buttered wax paper. We cut them into rectangle sections, and laid 2 gummy worms end to end, and then two more on top. Butter your hands, and very gently roll the rice krispies over the worms one turn, and cut the roll off of the rectangle. We let them chill for a while, then rolled unwrapped fruit roll ups around them.

We let them chill until the event, then sliced them in the studio. How cute!


We made some as rolls, and some nigiri style, a little mound of rice krispies topped with a sliced candy orange, and wrapped with a strip of the roll up.

They weren't too hard to make, and if you don't mind smelling like butter and marshmallows for days after, it's a very clever idea. Husband says "Never again", though!

We also finished up a few projects around the studio for the event:
Pink stripes painted on the door,


we weren't sure if it would be TOO cute, but our friend Tiffany assured us that you can never be too cute!

Flip flop sea glass mosaic stepping stones for outside,


And husband finished his bottle garden! He put a couple of inches of wet concrete in a cardboard box, sliced the bottles at an angle, and buried the whole thing when it was dry. I love this because it catches everyone's eye that walks by, and it can either be seen as bottles growing out of the sand,


or as flower vases!


What a great way to "grow" flowers...you can change the flowers anytime!

The event was mostly after dark, so two lamps were hung outside...


this one is three feet long!

Finally, a special event called for a special necklace. This is made from recycled bottle neck slices and Swarovski crystals.


Thanks for stopping by, and visit the studio soon!

Pretty Pretty Glass

We have been very busy this week making glassware sets out of old wine and liquor bottles. The more we work with bottles to make interesting sets, the more we are amazed at the colors and shapes available...and that most of these are just getting thrown away! (All of them thrown away here in the Virgin Islands, as we have no glass recycling.)
The Sapphire Gin bottle has been very popular for glassware sets...love the color and the shape, and they have a great weight to them. This is a custom set we made for client, for a gift for his friend Bob.


We do all the etching by hand, and this font was a little easier than the Edwardian Script that we just did for another client! (Also Sapphire). She had us put the name of her villa on hers. (By the way, this is the view out of the studio window...not too bad!)

Another client requested a cobalt blue set, and we did a little mixing and matching with this one... two of the bottles were very old SKYY vodka, you can see the raised lettering, which they don't do anymore, and two were old Harvey's Bristol Cream...look at that detail on the bottom!


There is so much color variety in wine bottles...


we love the blue and green tint on these.


The emerald green color of these large Perrier bottles is so pretty, too, and with a great shape!




This set is made from cheap $7.99 vodka...


we wonder, do they sell more because it's in a pretty bottle? The floral-like shape on top was a nice surprise when we cut this!


Thanks for stopping by, and if you are on island, come see us Thursday the 23rd during the Business After Hours event hosted by Tillett Gardens from 5:30 to 7:30!

Baby, It's Hot Outside!

Whew! It is HOT here in the Virgin Islands in September! Don't you want to cool off with a pitcher of icy-cold vodka crans? What better way than with Water Candy's tumbler and carafe sets! Theses are made from upcycled Ketel One Vodka bottles (thanks Ellen and Pat for lushing!)

Love margaritas instead? We also have a set of Cuervo tumblers with carafe...ready for tequila and lime! Rum and cokes your thing? We have a Captain Morgan tumbler set with carafe (love the raised sailboat on the Capt Morg bottle!)

Water Candy has a TON of empty bottles to choose from...visit us for your custom made glass ware set!

Very special thanks to Gina from Isola Bella...she bought a tumbler set and requested a carafe to match. Inspiration...we love it!

Also this week at Water Candy...you know we love Jagermeiser here on the island...our Jager candles would make a great gift! We are reserving some for candle holders (tea lights or votives) and some will be filled with wax and wick by Candles By George, our neighbor in the Garden.

Thanks for stopping by, and please visit us soon!

Thanks also to Kevin and Steve from Jacks for photo styling!

Rasta Lamp

Water Candy loves anything candy colored...brights or pastels, subtle or dramatic, and most of our work reflects this! We also LOVE custom orders for anything that we do, and sometimes this takes us outside of our candy box! We just finished a lamp for our client, ILove, that wanted Rasta colors...red, gold, and green. Our search for the perfect paper and colors was futile on the island. Luckily, we spent Labor Day weekend with the family in North Carolina and got to go to Michaels (I would trade Kmart here for a Michaels in a heartbeat)!! We found the perfect papers with the rich, bold colors that we were seeking.

We wanted to learn a little bit more about the Ratsa colors, and this is what we found out! According to Wikipedia and several other websites, the red symbolizes the blood of martyrs (or Africans), the gold the wealth of Africa (or stolen gold), the green the vegetation and beauty of Africa (or lost lands). These colors were used on the Ethiopian flag as early as 1798...with red on top, gold in the middle, and green on the bottom.


In a state ceremony around this time, however, the flag was accidentally flown upside down, and this pattern was adopted by the Ethiopian government and it is now commonplace to see green on the top and red on the bottom...we took creative license and did green-gold-red-gold-green!

We love the way the Rasta lamp turned out, and most importantly, so does ILove!

In other studio news this week, we just finished a collection of keychains in sea glass


and bottleneck glass


...keep these in mind for cute stocking stuffers in just a few months!

We also took the "paper paint" process from our nautical lanterns (see last post) and applied them to candle holders...so pretty when lit!


We are saving some to put tea lights or votives in, and giving some to our candle making friend George to wax and wick directly.


These are made from cut wine and liquor bottles that we didn't use for our glassware line...no glass goes to waste here at Water Candy!


Save those bottles- we take all donations!!

Nautical Bottle Lanterns

We have been so pleased with our move from a little studio in the back of Tillett Gardens to a larger studio with storefront! Besides the added space and exposure, we love that people pop in all day long to talk art. Our list of ideas and projects to try is long!

Our latest project, Nautical Bottle Lanterns, was inspired by Kimberly, from Everyday Clay Studio, and Elizabeth from Pandora's Treasure Box, both located in the Garden. Kim brought in a bottle lantern she owns, and Elizabeth brought photos she liked from a catalog. Thanks also to friend Kitty for discussions on painted bottles.

These lanterns combine our two favorites, glass and paper! And as we can't throw anything away, these are the tops leftover after cutting bottles for our glassware.

Tops that aren't used for lanterns will be sliced into rings for windchimes and jewelry.

(photo by Gina Feddersen)

What makes these nautical? Well, the texture on the bottle reminds us of a crusty, coral covered bottle salvaged from the sea


...and they look right at home on the sailboat! (husband points out that old bottles typically aren't bright funky colors...to that we respond, this is water candy.)


Our neighbor in the Garden was having a yard sale, and we picked up a bunch of chain and votive glasses super cheap. We simply drilled holes in the holders, attached the chain, and fed through the decorated bottle. Hanging in the studio, we are lighting them with battery operated tea lights, but flame tea light or votives could also be used.

We love our painted paper versions, but no collection of nautical lanterns would be complete without the gin



and the rum!

Thanks for stopping by here, and visit the shop soon!