I just joined the Goggle mini group so I hope that you are still
looking for ideas for wine bottles. I have tried several methods of
making them with varying degrees of success. (1) Sculpting in polymer
clay (using mostly translucent clay with a bit of pealized tinted clay)
and coating several times with polymer clay gloss coating is alright if
you are putting them at the back of a display and have an impressive
label. My labels come from a wine book that I got from a remainder bin
at a book sale. (I also got the beer & whiskey books in case I wanted
to expand my mini liquor cabinet at a later date.) The labels were
scanned into a computer, reduced and printed in colour onto label
sheets for ease of use. (2) I have also used the Lite Brite pegs from a
children's toy that I got at a garage sale. You can get refill packages
of just the pegs at toy stores like Toys-R-Us. Put a plastic peg in a
vise and sculpt the top with a rotary tool. The rotary tool's heat and
the friction will make the plastic opaque but this can be hidden with
foil around the top of the bottle. The best foil that I have found is
the thin stuff from around chocolates. If you don't fancy eating your
way to a supply of thin foil, check the confectionary supplies at large
craft stores like Michaels or some bulk food stores like Bulk Barn. The
confectionary foil comes in packages of 4" squares in silver, gold,
red, green, and sometimes pale pink and pale blue. (3) I have also
tried using the clear/green Christmas mini lights after removing them
from their mounts. This year there were the usual sized mini lights and
also a slightly bigger size labelled "commercial use". These larger
ones were a bit taller but also had a greater diameter and the bottoms
are better proportioned for 1:12 scale. A label will hide the filament
inside and a thick application of foil at the top will shape the neck
of the bottle better. You can use a thin coat of glass paint to mimic
the colour of the contents of the bottle. The downside to this is that
you have to have a diamond file to smooth off the bottom of the light
bulb so that it stands up straight. If you are near a "Princess Auto"
wholesale/surplus store, they have diamond files at cheap prices quite
often. (4) You can also use a purchased mini-bottle and make a mold and
use something like Environtex (which is a thick craft shellac available
at craft stores and even some hardware stores) to pour other bottles
but I find this very messy and very costly compared to the other
methods. You have to use a molding material to which the casting
solution will not stick. Model Builders Supply in Aurora has some of
these molding supplies. (5) The easiest way to get some bottles made is
to make friends with model railway enthusiasts. They can make molds of
almost anything and usually have a range of materials to make the
bottles from including pewter and plastic. If they use some of the
"scenic water" compounds made for their craft, they can tint some using
various colours. (6) However, my best bottles are not only real glass
but they have authentic labels and are filled with whiskey though they
are in scale. . At 1.75" they may be a bit off scale. They came in
little tarten matchboxes and cost 55 pence each. I found them in
numerous tourist shops when I was touring the British Isles about 15
years ago. I hope that some of my ideas as of use. Good luck with your
project.