This past spring Daniel and I went on a road trip from San Francisco to the Grand Canyon. Along the way we stopped at Chateau Julien for a wine tasting. I wanted to do something with the empty bottle instead of throwing it in the recycling bin. So here it is!
You’ll need:
an empty wine bottle
a drill
safety glasses and gloves (just in case the bottle breaks)
1/2″ glass drill bit
masking tape
short strand of Christmas lights (with a plug only on one end)
How to:
1. Rinse out your wine bottle and remove the labels (if desired).
2. Place a piece of masking tape on the bottle where you want to drill the hole for the cord. The tape keeps the drill bit from slipping.
3. Put on your gloves and goggles and start drilling. Don’t apply too much pressure or you could break the glass. The drilling takes a long time. I spent about 30 minutes drilling the hole. Be patient!
4. Once your hole is drilled rinse the glass shavings out of your bottle, and let the bottle dry.
5. Carefully feed the strand of Christmas lights into the hole you drilled.
6. TaaDaa!
is it a diamond drill bit that you used on this project? I love this idea!
No, I don’t think it was a diamond drill bit. I just used a bit specifically labeled for for glass/ceramic.
I am having a hard time finding strands of Christmas lights that are not end to end. Where did you find the lights you used?
My lights are end to end as well. I just let both plugs hang out the back side of the lamp.
Walmart and Joanne’s Fabrics both carry the lights that you are looking for.
Also there are many sites on the internet that carry these lights.
You can get them at the Dollar Store (yay!) – perfect length and price for this project!
You can also cut off the plug on the one end and tape off the wires with electrical tape. If wire for the lights are green you can cover the black electrical tape with floral tape to make it green. If they’re white you can cover the electrical tape with first aid adhestive tape. The lights will work just fine this way.
My husband and I make these as gifts. I leave the labels on- try to find wines that match the persons personality in some way. I also make bottle jewelry to go with them- beads on a wire or different things I wrap around the neck- along with a couple of strands of raffia. I found the 20 bulb and 35 bulb lights at hobby lobby. If you buy them in the Christmas section they have white, red and multi colored. And they are a $1 a box cheaper than in the craft department. I have been buying a few boxes each time I go in there.
What can you put over the label if you want to keep it on?
Back in the 60′s (I’m old) Dad and I would convert these massive 48″ Chianti bottle into floor lamps. This required drilling a hole in the base and the stakes were high since these bottle were scarce. We learned that you can speed up the drilling and end up with a little cleaner hole it you use on trick: make a little “volcano crater” out of clay or putty and fill it with 3-in-1 oil to lubricate the process and transmit some of the heat of drilling. This always yielded the best results. The oil will get super hot so be careful and wear them goggles. Wipe the bit clean periodically – the oil keeps it sharp and easy to clean. BTW, I used this process recently on some vintage pottery I needed to drill a drain whole in and it worked just as well.
Sage – I love your comments but am confused. Can you explain the volcano crater? Do I submerse the drilling area of the glass or pottery so that it is under the oil while I drill?
Becky
There could be a market for these??
Reasonably priced they would fly off the shelf, using different color bottles in a set of 3..
How long did it take you to make?
Local bars would be more than happy to get rid of their bottles too..
Nice post:)
Where did you find the drill bit?
Lowes
You’re giving me some of the idea what should I do in this coming Christmas.Thanks
Finding this post has saved me a ton of money this Christmas.
I have cleared out a load of redundant Christmas light sets and sent these out as gifts before Christmas so that people could really benefit from them.
The feedback I received was amazing, they all loved them.
Saved me money and helped clear my loft, thanks very much..
Sam
This design is good when you decorate it part of your house. I think I must be creative this coming Christmas.
I found strands of 20 lights at Big Lots for $1.29. Strands of 35 lights I found at Michael’s for $4.
I do not have the LED lights. Do you ever have an issue with them getting too hot or being a fire hazard? I filled two 1.5L bottles with approx 30-40 lights each and I just want to make sure they won’t overheat. Thanks!
I haven’t had an issue with the lights getting too hot. However, I don’t leave them on for more than an hour or so, and I don’t leave them unattended.
Great project and thanks for posting instructions! I just put one together and would strongly advise spending the extra money and getting LED lights. I used the regular strands and the bottle gets very hot after just an hour or so. I feel if I left it on any longer, the wires would start to melt. Also, the strand I bought was end to end as well but I just cut off the female plug and wrapped it with electrical tape and they worked fine.
This is wonderful! I’m making these for my friends for the holidays this year–we’re college students so we’re all hitting the point where we’re starting to get our own apartments and therefore need things like lights. Thank you so much for this tutorial!
Looking for the Christmas lights or Craft lights with one plug… do they sell them at Hobby Lobby?
For my birthday last August I received a cobalt wine bottle filled with blue Mardi Gras beads and white LED lights. There’s a battery pack on the lights, so I can use the bottle in a window when there’s no outlet close by. My bottle also came with a gorgeous iridescent blue beaded tassle. I’ve been trying to find the right drill bit to make a similar lamp for my sister, so I appreciate the info.
I line my drill hole w electrical tape so the glass doesn’t cut the my strand of lights as I feed them through plus it protects your fingers as well. :)
I could only find 50 light strands. Is that too many
50 lights will probably be too many for a regular sized wine bottle.
What a great idea for patio, deck screen porch lighting this summer. I received several blue bottles over the holiday season and imagine that when combined with green and brown bottles they will look gorgeous!
I used a 1/2″ diamond core bit that I got at the local hardware store. Take modeling clay and make a well where you want to drill the hole and fill with some water. Plunge and drill with short strokes for a clean cut. It only takes about 5 minutes with the core bit. 50 – 75 LED lights work Awesome!! You can also frost the wine bottle or use glass bathroom blocks for some extra WOW!!
Love this!
My friend made one of these for me & she put a floral decal on the bottle, too! So pretty!