Altered Bottles: "And all the silly sightless people came and looked...and called it junk."

I love junk. LOVE. IT. I will gladly dumpster dive for the right treasure. No shame! Because to me, it's kind of like a rescue mission. A last chance for some poor, unloved thing. I'm a sucker for saving last-chancers. That is how I came to own several old booze bottles (quite the conversation pieces for a non-drinker).

Thankfully, I didn't have to resort to dumpster-diving for booze bottles. I found most of these pretty little things abandoned at the thrift store. It's a miracle they didn't get sent straight to the recycling station or worse, broken in the trash.

I dressed them up with some pretty baubles: lace and ribbon, gems from a craft store and faux labels! Gorgeous!

Reminds me of one of my favorite children's authors: Shel Silverstein and his poem, Hector the Collector.

HECTOR THE COLLECTOR

by Shel Silverstein
Hector the Collector
Collected bits of string,
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring.
Pieces out of picture puzzles,
Bent-up nails and ice-cream sticks,
Twists of wires, worn-out tires,
Paper bags and broken bricks.
Old chipped vases, half shoelaces,
Gatlin' guns that wouldn't shoot,
Leaky boats that wouldn't float
And stopped-up horns that wouldn't toot.
Butter knives that had no handles,
Copper keys that fit no locks,
Rings that were too small for fingers,
Dried-up leaves and patched-up socks.
Worn-out belts that had no buckles,
'Lectric trains that had no tracks,
Airplane models, broken bottles,
Three-legged chairs and cups with cracks.
Hector the Collector
Loved these things with all his soul
Loved them more than shining diamonds,
Loved them more than glistenin' gold.
Hector called to all the people,
"Come and share my treasure trunk!"
And all the silly sightless people
Came and looked...and called it junk.