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!
Excellent tutorial! Love having the cord coming out of the bottom of the bottle, instead of the top likely so many that I’ve seen.
Now I know what to do with all these empties. I’ll string together a wall of these lights, when I get the art monkey over to do the drilling.
@jennifer I paid about $16 for my 1/2 inch glass drill bit. the hard part was finding a store that carries one. Most of the home centers like Lowes and Home Depot don’t carry the size.
I got my 1/2 inch glass drill bit at Lowes. They only had 2 left!
Hi!
I’ve used one picture for my blog at ELLE Interiör; http://www.elleinterior.se/bloggar/diy-or-die.aspx?post=36187
I hope it’s ok. Please tell me if you want me to remove it!
/Tiger
Tiger—thanks for liking my photo enough to use it on your blog! Since you linked back to my site that’s perfectly fine. Thanks for checking! : )
Bought my drill bit for $9. In the middle of making this baby!
I used clear glass and had a bunch of the glass shaving paste stuff inside the bottle that I had hard time getting out. Dish soap, soaking, nothing seemed to work. Then I used about a tablespoon of kosher salt with a little water and swirled it around, problem solved. The salt acted like an abrasive to get the paste of the inside glass.
Alright, I am so glad that I found this tutorial. I decided to make this gift for somebody I know that enjoys wine a great deal, and it was a great gift idea! I decided to try it on one wine bottle, but ended up making about 4 because they look so amazing. After some family saw what I did, they went out and bought wine bottles, 40 oz Budweiser and Coors bottles, ect and we now have about 7 of these things in the making. It looks great no matter what bottle you use, as long as its tinted. My favorite stumble of the season!
Great Jesse! I’m so glad they are turning out well for you. : )
made 1 and loved it. Showed it to a friend who requested another. Showed it to my sister, she requested 2. Showed it to another friend, and they wanted to make their own to sell. This was a big hit that everyone loved.
I had difficulty finding a suitable string of 50 lights that did not have a plug at both ends (string to string). I ended up using 3 sets of battery operated LED lights in a string of 15. The battery cases act as a base. The lights were at Walgreens, came in white and three colors. The white look great in a blue bottle.
Thanks!
I tried this myself and it worked pretty well. I took one suggestion from the comments and submerged the bottle under water in a sink. I think this helped. Although there were still a few chips around the edges, my holes look cleaner than the ones in the author’s photos. I also used a Dremel (with a narrow conical grinding bit) to grind down the edges–they’re safe to touch and won’t damage the wires. I bought a string of 30 LED lights from Amazon for about $8. The lights have a faint flicker to them, but it still looks pretty good.
Unfortunately, one of my holes has some hairline fractures radiating out from it. I think this is because I was applying too much pressure with the drill–so be careful!
FYI: I used some distinctive liquor bottles for my projects, and they look pretty cool.
I didn’t have a set without a plug on the front end, so I just cut it off and sealed the separately sealed the wires with electrical tape.
For my second bottle I am also going to use a screw cap wine bottle so that I can cap it and use it outside.
Thanks for the great project!
I used this idea for a 3-Dimensional studies class and came up with a great final project. really cool effect with the color too
I decided I would use this idea to celebrate my wife’s and my first Christmas married to one another. I found the bit without issue at Lowes. I jammed 150 lights into mine – major issue was that I bought web lighting which twists the lights in a thick strands at times – I had to unravel all of them – this wasn’t the end of the work though – because they had to inline fuses coated with plastic. I had to use my dremmel to shave off enough to get through the hole… being very careful not to hit any wires.
I am created a label with one of our wedding pictures on it, commemorating our first married Christmas. I think she will love it.
You must be careful to allow enough air/ventilation to travel through the bottle. Even the small amount of lights will overheat and break the bottle after a while. Ben there/done that with the same type project ayear or so ago.
My concern would be heat build-up over time, potentially causing the bottle to crack, or worse yet a short. However I think if L.E.D. lighting was used (instead of the traditional string lights with removable bulbs) then the heat buildup would be minimal.
Very cool idea!
Definitely use LED’s–they’re cooler and much more energy efficient. They cost more, but it’s a worthwhile investment.
anyone know where i can buy the lights this time of year? (since xmas just ended)
They have christmas lights at amazon.com year round.
How difficult was it to fit the lights through the 1/2″ hole you made in the bottle? I ask because finding a glass/tile drill bit was very difficult from the hardware/tool shops around me and the biggest I could find was 3/8″. :(
Fitting the lights through the 1/2″ hole was a tight squeeze. I don’t think they would fit through a 3/8″ hole. If you google “1/2 inch glass drill bit” there are plenty for sale online. Like this one:
http://www.hardwareandtools.com/invt/6128920
wow that is sweet!! Im going to try and make some of these!! Definitely cool!! Thanks for sharing!!
I took some copper wire hooked my lights and pulled them to the neck of the bottle so that they would be spread out. I then wrapped the extra copper wire around the neck of the bottle several times and hung glass grapes from them along w/some grape leaves. I also purchased lights that run off batteries which allows you to put them anyhere. Mine are being used as center pieces for a wedding. You can hide the pack w/leaves etc.
Looks like a good project – something I’ll undertake and hopefully finish.
Use some silicon carbide (black) sanding paper to smooth out the hole. This will make it safer to handle, less likely to cut the insulation off your wires and less likely to develop additional fractures. You could also use a propane torch to heat the hole and fuse the cracks while they are still microscopic. Get the whole bottle evenly hot before focusing on the hole or it will explode / disintegrate. One commenter mentioned using the Dremel tool with a small grinding stone to smooth the outside of the hole. Use it to smooth the inside rim, too.
Thats cool!!!!
I remember doing something similar but a different concept and technique for my party room in my previous apartment 2 yrs back.
One of my friends accidently broke the bottle of wine and funnily only the bottom cracked and came off!!!!! We noticed that on inverting it looked like wine glass
so i got a frame maker to cut the base of five bottles of green tint….lit it up with 10Watt bulbs. That made for illumination over the bar!!!!!!!!
Worked out pretty cool for me
I have a light like this that’s done with a whiskey bottle and multicolor lights. The light string died. My question is this: How to get the lights OUT now to replace them with new?
Wow! – what a great idea! Thanks :)
Kai – I would cut the plug off the dead light string (unplugged of course) and pull them through the top of the bottle. You could use a chopstick or a bent wire hanger to fish them out.
With a little practice, it is possible to chip a hole as even as that in a glass bottle using the tip of an ordinary drill bit and a spoon as a ‘hammer’. Spoons are perfect, as the weight is perfect & the bowl shape means it’s easy to hit the drill-bit just right. Seriously, it’s less trouble than a glass bit and cheaper. I’ve made many a bong/hot-knife bottle like this in the past. Good to know it’s a transferable skill…
Well, that’s a great idea! I like it!
I did that as well, only I did not drill it, I spent an hour ticking and chipping away at a bottle of Château Neuf du Pape with ridiculously thick glass. I used a pointed chisel-like thingemebob. The end result is rather better than the wine was, I bought it in an Antiques shop but it had turned sour.
“Kai – I would cut the plug off the dead light string (unplugged of course) and pull them through the top of the bottle. You could use a chopstick or a bent wire hanger to fish them out.”
Exactly — that way you could use a much smaller drill bit (1/4″ or even 3/16″ would probably work). Cut plug end off lights. Drill hole. Run a piece of wire through the hole and out the top of the bottle. Tape the wire to the cut off end of the light strings and pull through bottle and out the hole in the bottom. Push all lights into the top. Put a new cord end on the light string.
Brilliant. Bravo. Whoa. I just want this in my room!!!!!!
Neat idea. I’m surprised we haven’t seen these in local lighting stores.
Ben Koshkin
pls add to this tutorial that it is important to leave the top open. Some christmasslights develop a lot of heat when put together in a small place.
That’s a great idea and the bottle is beautiful, like a group of fireflies! A few years ago, I was in a bar, and they had a string of the tiny string of lights in green liquor bottles (the kind you get for a dollar), one bulb in the top of each bottle.
Mmm…I don’t see how this would be such a great idea indoors. The lights being bunched up in such a confined space like this will definitely cause a lot of trapped heat, causing it to possibly melt the plastic! Great idea, but too dangerous — however, if they are used outside in cold weather, than it wouldn’t be such a bad idea
BTW: I like your website design/layout. very clean, crisp and collected!
christina.
good though about the overheating, however most christmas lights these days are LED, and therefore produce a negligible ammount of heat.
protip. If you drill the bottle in a tub of water you can go a little faster and there is no chance of breathing glass dust. In case you were wondering, inhaling glass dust is BAD.
that is so simple, and so wonderful in its illuminocity (is that a word?) whatever, it’s awesome
Oh wow, I found this site from stumbleupon.com, but what a coincidence! I’m sure I didn’t find this due to a regional search, but I used to intern at Chateau Julien. I guess the internet is not as large as it seems… but anyway, nice DIY, I’ll definitely try it out sometime. :]
Kelly – Small world! That must have been a fun internship. Hopefully they let you sample the goods. ; )
wouldn’t a soldering iron work better
This bottle looks amazing! :)
I found glass drill bits at Lowes and it took about 10 minutes to drill the hole. Be sure to follow the drill bit instructions, i.e use water to keep the drill bit cool. Great idea!
My mom did these a couple years ago and they look great with all the lights out.
We glue on flat red or clear beads in the shape of a cluster of grapes…makes a great gift!
Great thank you for sharing.