Calligraphy For Beginners: Wine Bottle Labels

Calligraphy is a versatile hobby, and can be used in so many different ways, for example, producing labels and using beautiful calligraphy styles.

In this post, we are focusing on making labels for home made wine. Brewing home made wine is a common hobby, can be fun and save you money. People have been producing home made wine for thousands of years and wine can be made from fruit, grapes or mixed with spices. Making your own wine labels give it that extra special and personal touch to your creation.

How to Produce Home Made Wine Labels

To start, draft up a basic layout of the wine label, such as the date, name and details of the type of wine you have produced. Think carefully about the curvature of the wine bottle when designing your label. Try to keep the layout balanced and pleasing to the eye and think about the size and shape of the label to fit the wine bottle.

Attractive Borders for Wine Labels

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You can use sticky labels, or waterproof adhesive, so the label does not wrinkle when you stick the label to the glass bottle. For attractive borders, you can photocopy some basic decorative designs to frame the lettering or you can try to draw the borders by hand. You can introduce some color to the borders to make the label stand out.

Choosing the Lettering Style for Your Wine Bottle

Many wine bottles have two labels, one at the front and another at the back. You may also choose to have a smaller label on the neck of the wine bottle. Have a look at other wine bottles for some ideas for your design. The wine label shown, illustrates the italic copperplate style, which is a traditional style commonly used in wine bottles designs. You can use the lettering template, such as the example shown below to help you trace out the lettering styles for your wine bottle label. Other commonly used styles are Gothic or Roman letterings. However, you can choose any calligraphy style you like.

Lettering Template for producing a wine bottle label

Producing a Picture to Design Your Wine Bottle

Introducing color and simple colored images can set off your wine bottle label beautifully. In the example below, is a simple pastel image of a landscape. You can draw a simple picture for your label to make it stand out. You can also use any image you like to create an eye catching label for your wine bottle. If drawing or painting a picture is not for you, then you can take a photograph of a landscape and then use the special effects settings commonly seen on camera phones to make the photograph look like a watercolor picture. The picture below was taken by a camera phone and special effects was applied by using one of the camera settings. You can apply different colored or tinted effects to help you create a great wine label. You can then upload the picture on a computer and resize it, using ‘Paint’ and then apply the picture on your label with your letterings.