It’s become a tradition for Allovus Principal and Founder Hayley Nichols to give special bottles of wine to her holiday party guests and to Allovus clients.
This year was no exception.
We thought it would be fun to show how the wine bottle art is done—from start to finish.
Designed by Allovus Illustrator Robert Massa, the bottle was absolutely stunning. The process began with several preliminary sketches. One design was chosen and then compared to last year’s design for continuity.
“Last year, I had done a series of sketches, and we ended up choosing the snowman design for 2013. This year, we revisited the drawings and decided to go with the star,” Robert said. “I knew the basics of how to do the sandblasted art, so I knew how to set up the files. Fresh Northwest Design, the company that does the etching and airbrushed paint on the bottles, sent me an illustrator template, and then I created every layer. I did one layer that was just for the etched part, and also included layers that were specific for each color.”
Once Fresh Northwest Design received Robert’s files, they set to work.
Here are the steps needed to create the etching and color:
- The company’s graphic designer prepared each layer as a mask, and from there, the art was passed off to the team in the back.
- The image was applied to the bottle and taped off to mask the areas not being etched.
- The bottle was then sandblasted, which created the etching in the glass.
- Then the bottle was cleaned up and each color was airbrushed on the design. (With drying time in between colors.)
We were impressed with the finished product and can’t wait to see what next year’s wine bottle will look like.