Materials:
- Sand
- Funnel - optional
- Small empty water or soda bottle - Our
bottle is approximately 5" tall
- Cork that fits the bottle - Our cork is
1 1/4" tall
- Stapler
- String or twine
- 3" x 4 1/2" piece of white paper
- Cup of tea
1) You will need a piece of paper
approximately 3" x 4 1/2" but instead of cutting
it, tear it to the recommended size. Now
crinkle it up and place it in a cup of tea for a
few minutes until it turns a weathered color.
I recommend keeping it in the tea for at least
15 minutes. I left the tea bag in the cup
with the paper. Now remove it from the
tea, squeeze out the excess tea and place it on
some newspaper, paper towels or and old towel
and let it dry completely. Once it is dry,
write your message on it.
2) Remove the label from your bottle and wash
the bottle out. Be sure the bottle is
completely dry before proceeding.
3) Using a funnel, pour sand into the bottle
until it comes up about 1/4 of the way. If
you don't have a funnel, you can make one by
rolling a piece of paper into a cone shape and
putting the end into the bottle. Hold the
funnel in place while you pour.
4) Add as many shells to the bottle as you
like. They must be small enough to fit
through the neck of the bottle. We used
about 15 shells. If you don't see your
shells, just give it a little shake and they
will come to the top.
5) Now, take your message from step 1.
Be sure it is totally dry. Roll up the
message and tie one end of a 7" string to the
center of the note. Make a knot in the
other end of the string. Staple the
knotted end of the string to the side of
your cork.
6) Put the note in the bottle and put the
cork in place. When you want to read the
note, simply pull out the cork and the note will
follow.
* If you use a larger bottle, also use a
longer string.
Suggestion: If you want to use
colored sand simply add some powdered tempera
paint to the sand and give it a good shake
before adding the shells.
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Instructions
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