Make a doll-sized hot water bottle...

Left, an actual hot water bottle.
Right, a doll-size water bottle 3 1/2" x 2 1/2"

       A hot-water bottle is a bottle filled with hot water and sealed with a stopper, used to provide warmth, typically while in bed, but also for the application of heat to a specific part of the body.
       "India rubber" hot-water bottles were in use in Britain at least by 1875. Modern conventional hot-water bottles were patented in 1903 and are manufactured in natural rubber or PVC, to a design patented by the Croatian inventor Eduard Penkala. They are now commonly covered in fabric, sometimes with a novelty design.

       The photo on the right shows the difference in scale between our 18" doll-sized hot water bottle and a standard sized real hot water bottle sold in the United States.

 

Supply List:

• craft foam sheet
• ruler
• scissors
• pencil
• hot glue and hot glue gun
• masking tape
• one bead for the "stopper"
• newspaper
  

Left, foam sheets with textured fronts. Center, crushed newsprint in the shape of a hot
water bottle, covered with masking tape. Right, 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" cut shapes for the body of
 our doll's hot water bottle.

 Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Crush recycled newsprint into the shape of a hot water bottle. 
2. Mask every part of this doll sized accessory with tape: top, bottom, and sides.
3. Cut a small oval from the foam sheet and hot glue this to the top of the bottle.
4. Then cut two identical sheets of foam for the sides of the bottle. Make these approximately 1/2 inch larger than your crushed paper bottle so that when you go the glue the pieces on, these will cover the whole body of the bottle. 
5. Use your hot glue gun to carefully to attach the foam sheets. Squeeze out the glue as you seal the edges of the foam. Don't worry about the mess, this will be trimmed away after the glue hardens. 
6. Clip and cut the corners to give a clean finish to your bottle as you proceed.
7. Cut a strip of foam to cover the neck of the bottle. Glue this piece on.
8. Cut a second narrower strip of foam to glue around the seam at the neck. Glue this piece on.
9. Glue a white bead at the top to represent the stopper of the bottle.

Left, the foam should be cut larger than the paper mache bottle shape. Center, the foam
glued to both sides of the bottle. Right, the bead glued to the top of our doll's hot water
bottle looks like a stopper.

A hot water bottle ad from 1918, as you can see these bottles have been
manufactured for a long time. Note, "Sweetie" hot water baby doll may
have been the very first water baby to exist!