The evolution of my ships in bottles:Over the past 8 years I have fabricated nearly 100 ships in bottles, taken thousands of pictures, written articles for ship in bottle associations, had numerous articles in the press, constructed SIBs for company promotional purposes, displayed my artwork at artisan and craft expos, and even got myself on television. I hope to be able to organize a great deal of this information on this site for you to access and enjoy. My Work Now: Building ships in bottles is an ongoing and ever evolving process. My selection of materials are no longer dictated by ease of use or accessibility, but by their durability, quality level, and exactitude in representing the parts of a real ship. I now fabricate every ship in bottle based on available plans combined with images of the boats, as well as descriptions and measurements. A great deal of research and planning goes into each ship in bottle, sometimes taking up almost as much time as the fabrication. Its stages of construction are carefully planned before I even pick up my tools, so I can feel confident that mistakes won't be made and I am sure of the layout of every part of the ship. Practice makes perfect, and this can't be more true in my line of work. Over the years I have trained my hands, eyes, and mind to be as accurate, clear, and as steady as possible. I've learned to see errors and make measurements within a tenth of a millimeter or smaller in accuracy, while being able to handle and fabricate tiny pieces of the minute scale. I've developed my skills in handling my basic tools, various chisels, blades and scalpels, hand saws, tweezers, and work with both my right and left hand. And the overall result that I have always desired to achieve, is to give my miniature ships a life inside a bottle and create an atmosphere of a real ship at sea. My Work for the Future
My hopes for the future of my craft are to experiment with more types of woods in the actual fabrication of the ship itself. And, develop new and improved ways of constructing and representing the portions of the ship. I also hope to create more complex and active scenes in bottles that can tell an even larger story or a portion of a ship's history which may mean working in larger bottles. I am as always taking commissions on all sorts of ships in bottles from small open dinghies, classic and modern yachts, power boats, to complex intricate scenes of the square riggers of old. Feel free to contact me with any requests, ideas, or questions for future projects!
5 Comments
Bil Hardenberger
1/19/2018 06:43:29 pm
Your work is amazing, I look forward to any future updates. The level of detail and the high quality are impressive at these scales.
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Gabrielle
1/26/2018 10:52:18 am
Hey Bil, thanks for the nice comments. I had to start a new website and so yes lost quite a bit of info from my original one, but I'll try to get that USS Constitution build log back up for you. A book...gosh I want to, if I only had the time. Let me know if there were any other build logs of particular interest right now that would also help. Have a great one!!!
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Bil Hardenberger
1/26/2018 02:41:19 pm
Thank you Gabrielle! I look forward to seeing that build log again. As for any of the others.. not sure what else is missing, but I am most interested in your age of sail builds.
Gabrielle
2/3/2018 01:00:06 pm
Hey Bil, I've got the USS Constitution build log back up. I will keep you updated if I add more.
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AuthorHeather Gabrielle Rogers: Shipwright for bottled miniature models. Archives
March 2018
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