Don’t Toss the Bottle: Creative Ways to Reuse Wine Bottles

What better excuse to dig into a fresh bottle of vino than to be able to say, “But honey, I need the bottle for a craft project that I’m working on!” It’s completely believable, totally environmentally responsible, and way trendy. There are tons of fun craft projects out there than reuse wine bottles, the hardest part might just be picking the one to do first! Here’s a look at three that you may not have already seen.

The Birdfeeder

How perfectly sweet! This little gem can hang right outside of your kitchen window to welcome new friends into your life as you prepare dinner or wash dishes. Sure, you’ll have to do a little woodworking, but you’ll feel like Snow White after with all of your new birdie friends! You’ll need:

• Saw
• Hammer
• Drill with hole-saw fitting
• Tape Measure
• Sandpaper
• 1 meter plank, should be 40 cm wider than your wine bottle
• Screws, panel pins
• Birdseed
• Wine bottle

First comes the woodworking. You’ll need to make the backboard about 150 mm longer than the length of your wine bottle and cut the table and neck supports to be10mm wider than your bottle. Next, use the hole saw to cut a hole in the center of your neck support section. Use your sandpaper to smooth out the edges of the hole.

Screw the table portion to the back support, the working project will resemble an “L” at this point. If you like, use 10mm wide strips of plank to create three walls on the table and prevent seed spillage later.

Place the bottle into the neck support section and position it 20mm above the table. Mark this location with a pencil, remove the bottle, and screw the neck support into the backboard.

Almost done! Next you’ll cut three planks, 20mm in length, to support the sides and front of the bottle base support. Screw these into place as well, near the base of the bottle.

Mount the feeder on a wall, and then simply fill the bottle with seed and drop it in!

The Citronella Candle

Source: http://helloglow.co/diy-wine-bottle-citronella-candles/

Staying outside, but with far less handiwork, this project turns emptied bottles into decorative citronella candles that can help keep mosquitos at bay while you’re enjoying a new glass of wine on your outside patio. You’ll need:

• ½ inch torch replacement wicks
• ½ inch x 3/8 -inch copper coupling with stop
• ½ -inch copper tube cap
• ½ -inch teflon tape
• Tiki Fuel
• Wine bottle

Optional:

• 1-2 bags of marbles
• 1/2-inch funnel

If you want to use marbles, or any other base décor, start your project by dropping these into your bottle. It’s a smart idea to do this, as it keeps the wick from dropping through to the bottom of the bottle.

Use your coupling tape to wrap around the copper coupling so that it fits snuggly into the neck of your bottle. Make it a bit thicker than you think you’ll need, so that later when it is pressed into place, it goes in securely. For now, set it to the side with the replacement wick placed through it, leaving just about ½” of the wick exposed through the top to light.

Use your funnel to fill the bottle with Tiki fuel. Don’t fill entirely, as this will cause spillage in the next step.

Finally, place the wick and coupler into the neck, firmly securing the stopper in place.

Soap Dispenser

How about a super simple project that is also super useful? It doesn’t take much time, energy, or many supplies at all to create an incredible soap dispenser for your kitchen sink. Here’s how to phase out those thin Dawn dish soap bottles with class once and for all! You’ll need:
• Empty wine bottle
• Bottle pourer

Optional:
• Paintbrush
• Glass etching cream
• Stencil
• Tape

The basic version of this craft is so simply. Just pour your dish soap into the wine bottle, add a rubber stopper/pourer and you’re done. You can stop there, or you can get fancy.

Using a stencil, tape off the front of your wine bottle. Cover any area that you don’t want to appear etched with a design, as all exposed surfaces will be impacted. Painter’s tape works wonders for this. The trick is just to take your time and make sure that all edges are secured, so that your etching cream doesn’t run.

Next up- apply the etching cream. Apply liberally to start, wait a few minutes, and then smooth out with your paintbrush. Leave the cream for at least a half hour, but there really is no amount of time that is “too long” for the cream to sit.

After that, use cool water to rinse the cream off and help with removing all of the tape. A gentle wash with soap and water should remove any additional tape residue from your new, customized dish soap dispenser!