A Simple Keyboard in a Bottle Decoration

A simple and cheap way to make a classy gift for your geeky (or not) friend.

Step 1: Needed Materials and Tools

For this simple project you will need..

Materials:
An empty wine bottle (or any other good looking see-through container)
A keyboard (preferably old and no longer used)
A cork from the bottle (or lid for any other container)
Water (or any other liquid of your choice)

Tools:
- or + screwdriver

Additional (not necessary) tools:
A small towel or a piece of cloth
A small container for the keys
A larger container for the bottle to soak in

Comments

[twighahn]

might be fun to do this like one would do a ship in a bottle.you know rebuild the keyboard inside the bottle

[Derin]

fyi-for metal to rust you need both water AND o₂(the oxygen cannot rip apart from the water that easily,I saw experimentors dip a nail in a full to the brim water bottle and not let air in,and it wouldnt rust.

[Opalinus]

Geeky idea. I think, I would add a LED with a included power source (small battery) and stick that all together into a key or something like that. I hope you understand what I mean. Thanks for the nice idea!

[w00ty32]

You could seal the top w/ wax..... or is that whisky? eh, +1 anyway

[raiderdk]

I make it in a beer bottle, i will change the cork to a bottlecap soon to fit it better, temporaly is without water, anyway looks greats. If you use only letters pieces (not F's or insert/del/home keys) and uses a pink/red glass bottles instead green one, willbecome a great Sant Valentin gift, to complement add a ribbon and a card that says "message in a bottle" or "all I can say is inside this bottle" or something similar. Saludos.

[kontrastas]

That's an awesome idea! Cheers!

[elescape]

yeah you could always put a l.e.d in the cork and seal it up!

[lttheninja]

I love this! I love these "out there" ideas. This is something I really see myself doing.

[kontrastas]

Thanks! I hope you don't mind me asking, but what do you have in mind by "out there"? Just curious :)

[lttheninja]

It's rather bizarre.

[podup365.com]

Where did you get that old keyboard. The keys on it are disgustingly dirty! Using an old toothbrush (not a family member's current one!) is also a good idea to clean the grime off of those keys. Adding a teaspoon of bleach to the water you are cleaning them with will help disinfect them too. You don't want things growing in the bottle later.

[Lftndbt]

Ummmm... Are we looking at different pics? They look, standard offwhite colour to me... Infact they do not even have your standard finger mark stain's either...

[kontrastas]

I believe podup365 had the second picture on the second step in mind, in it you can clearly see the dirtiness of that particular keyboard before washing.

[Lftndbt]

The pic which is washed out with the yellow incandescent lamp??
Yes those appear filthy...
I'll shut up now, i'm just confused... In every other pic apart from the one with incorrect lighting (washed with yellow light pigments), the keys look like any other keyboards keys. Certainly not disgusting and certainly not worth writting a hole comment about how bad they are...

[podup365.com]

Mercy! My comment was not meant to sound derogatory. It was meant to "instruct", rather than tear down. Especially the parts about using an old toothbrush and a little bleach to clean the keys. That picture did give me flashbacks to when I used to do home PC service calls though. ~Shudder~ :-)

[kontrastas]

Perhaps the pictures just don't show it, if you had seen it in person you'd know how filthy it was :D

[kontrastas]

Since i used up my old keyboard on a similar project not long ago i got this one from a friend and yes, it wasn't quite in mint condition :D Bleach might be a good idea, but you have to wash the keys very thoroughly afterwards in order not to get soap/bleach/cleaner bubbles in the finished product.

[DELETED_dannydutton]

(removed by author or community request)

[kontrastas]

Russian.

[Omicron831]

This is pretty cool, wish i'd kept my old keyboard now =(

[technodude92]

Oh. theres tons of cool stuff you could do with a keyboard and some programming knowledge(or not).

[NotOurKing]

If you use boiling water, it will suck the cork in as it cools, but for this to work well you will need to leave more air space. Another way to get the cork in a little easier would be to use two thin pieces of metal, one on each side, to push it in. Then, while holding the cork in place, wiggle them out slowly. My Grandmother used to have a cork extractor that work like that. If you have an old tape measure you don't mind cutting, you could get the metal strips that way. If you try this please post as to your success, I've never actually tried this, but it's basic physics, so I'm sure it will work. Have fun

[kontrastas]

Will have to try those sometime, thanks for the ideas!

[vinya]

Good Geeky idea, but about the design... i'm pretty sure that you could make it better :-)

[camp6ell]

do tell!

[Parahnus]

OOoooO Cool-E-o I Made A Coke Bottle One Cause Sadly I Dont Drink

[thewoodcarver]

You can find all kind of bottles behind restaurants , I watch people take them for recycling ?? or whatever they take them for

[kontrastas]

You don't necessarily have to drink the content of the bottle, actually this one was not drunk by myself too :) Maybe you could post a picture of your coke one?

[Friedto]

If you do happen to get your finger stuck inside the bottle, do NOT break the bottle right where it's stuck, I did this and pushed many finger shards into my finger, instead, take some warm water and soap, and with the water, run it over the part where your finger is stuck, and with the soap, apply it around your finger and allow lubrication to do its work.

[Yerboogieman]

just relax and listen to some pink floyd or led zeppelin and it should come out on its own, man

[kontrastas]

Nasty stuff :D

[Friedto]

haha, finger shards, meant glass shards

[Grey_Wolfe]

Yeah, finger shards suck. lol ;-P

[rusky]

Great Idea!! A quick tip for washing the keyboard, place it upside down in the dishwasher, add detergent & put on a quick wash, NOT the one with the drying cycle!!!

[technodude92]

will the keyboard survive the washing? Oh and what would happen if pluged a wet keyboard into a computer?

[Yerboogieman]

let it sit long enough to dry then try

[Friedto]

I am in an IT class in my highschool, and we had to go around and clean all the keyboards and computers, and the keyboards from the really slobbish teachers (the ones who ate and clobbered crumbs all over) we took and stuck in the dish washer. Then, we left them out to dry for a couple of weeks. I suppose you could use a hair drier to speed up the process.

[kontrastas]

It should survive, we do only need the keys for this one, but you should never plug in a wet keyboard (or any other wet device) into your computer or any source of electrical energy not only will you most likely burn the device but you will also have a pretty high chance of getting electrocuted. If you let it dry completely, well, then there's a chance that it may work again, but i wouldn't recommend washing a keyboard in this way if you intend to ever use it again.

[twighahn]

most makers say to do the following to clean elctronics.
1st try blowing it out with air (in a can)
2nd try cleaning it with rubbing alcohol and letting it dry for 24 hours before plugging it in
3rd and only as a last resort emerse in water and bleach (dishwasher is one way to do this). then dry for a week in a hot place b4 plugging in.

[charred]

very creative, i love it

[GorillazMiko]

Dang, that's AWESOME! What kind of bottle is that?

[kontrastas]

It's a bottle from Moldavian wine called The Black Monk (Черный Монах). I don't quite remember from where i got it, but as i can see in the picture i took before peeling the stickers off it's year is 2004, strength is 10.5%, town of production - Kishinev.

[kontrastas]

Here we go, pictures of the brand in detail.

[GorillazMiko]

Thanks, looks amazing with that bottle.

[the_burrito_master]

cool I think my cousin or my brother (same one with the laptop) would like this.

[Patrik]

You've used a somewhat unusual bottle here - do you know whether the "typical" keyboard keys will fit through the "typical" wine bottle neck?

[kontrastas]

The cork i used was from a typical wine bottle and it fit perfectly, therefore i believe the keys will fit through a typical wine bottle neck without a problem.

[jokubas]

wow dude!!! youre awesome! great instructable!!

[kontrastas]

If that ain't sarcasm then thanks :)