How exactly is this done? I did a search and it said it was tedious. It seems impossible to me. You have to lay the sea down first with putty and use acrylic paint. The putty has to dry for 6 weeks before you can even start. I want to know HOW you can do all that inside the bottle. Do they build the ship inside the bottle with long sticks or something? What if you mess up? How do you fit such little items in a small space like that? I just don't get it. Do you know anyone who has done this before?

The ship is built outside the bottle and in such a way that the masts and sails collapse. Then it is slid into the bottle through the neck, placed on the putty, and the sails and masts are raised using long shanked tools.

Ok, so that is the simple way of doing things - a method that most people still use. There are, however, some artists that do actually build the ship in the bottle, using forceps to add each tiny piece individually.

There are plenty of kits that you can buy to build your own ship in a bottle. Most of them are for ages 8 and up so can't be too difficult and will give you an idea of how it is done