Little bottles of love

 

A few years ago I met a lovely man and as a Valentine's Day gift I made him a ribbon message in a bottle. After a while he asked me to marry him and I said yes*. I'm pretty sure that it was the message in a bottle that caused him to overlook the fact that he likes tidiness and I have an ability to spontaneously create untidiness at the drop of a hat! Well, at the drop of a hat and some shoes and a handbag and probably some books and bits of ribbon and....

So that was the beginning of the ribbon in a bottle idea. I can't remember why I wasn't satisfied with making a little scroll of paper, but drawing a ribbon out of a bottle to reveal a secret message just seemed right.

After trying to write on ribbon with lots of different types of pen I really wasn't happy - it smudges and runs and generally just looks messy. Eventually I got a notion that typing the message might work so I asked around to see if anyone knew where I might get a typewriter. Somehow I ended up with five of them! I tested them all out and I liked a little vintage Hermes Baby the best  - it also looks cutest and packs neatly away in a matching case.

I've created quite a few customised ribbon messages for people in recent months for birthdays, weddings, christenings and even one for someone joining a silent monastic order! They're somewhere between giving a card and giving a gift, yet a combination of both. I love making them and I hope that I'll have some enquiries for customised messages - I think a marriage proposal in a bottle would just be fantastic!

*Some facts and even whole aeons of time may have been omitted from this part of the story :-)