Introduction: Make a Decorative Wine Glass Holder

This instructable will show you how to make a decorative wine glass holder that is not only very functional, but makes an excellent addition to your table decor.
I have been making these wine glass holders for a couple of years and selling them at a local craft market and the complements are never ending.

Step 1: Design Specs

There are a few fundamental dimensions that should not be deviated from without careful consideration to the impact they might have on the wine holders functionality.

1. Bottle Neck Hole:
This is a where the holder will fit onto the wine bottle. I've used a hole 30-32mm in diameter. This will fit any standard wine bottle. Make the hole too small and it won't fit onto the bottle, make it too large and the holder slides too far down the bottle neck. This can be changed if you have a particular bottle you need to use.

2. Glass Stem Hole:
This is where the glass will sit in the holder. I've used a 14mm hole, you can go larger but this will affect the design of the hook later on.
The centre of this hole should be 80mm from the centre of the bottle neck hole. If you have a bottle with a larger outer diameter or wider glasses, then this dimension can be increased.

3. The Hook:
This is formed by creating a 10mm gap in the glass stem hole. The hook faces towards the bottle so that the glass "falls" into the hook and not out of it. You can create the gap by making a 10mm hole with it's centre 5mm from the centre of the glass stem hole.

Step 2: Aesthetics

Here is where we make the glass holder functional, but at the same time you can add your own artistic flair. In all essence you are creating a hook with a hole on one end, incorporating the specs from the previous step. It can be as basic as a block design that connects the 2 elements, something with more flowing lines or just let your creativity unfold.

What needs to be taken into consideration is the material that will be used and the width required to support the weight of the wine glasses. I have used a 3mm acrylic, but plywood, MDF and stainless steel would work just as well.

With the acrylic in mind, the width of material around the bottle neck should be at least 8mm, and the hook arm at least 5mm. I imagine you could get away with a lot less in stainless steel.
The pictures show the different levels of design flair.

Step 3: Repetition

Here's where you can decide if you prefer drinking alone, dinner for two, or entertaining a group.
The wine glass holder works great for a single glass, but the design can be replicated to carry as many glasses as you like. I have gone all the way up to eight standard wine glasses.

Repeat your design keeping the centre of the bottle neck holes centred. It is ideal to space the hooks evenly to allow the wine glasses to balance each other out.

Step 4: Cutting

Depending on the material you have chosen and your skill level, the wine glass holder can be cut by traditional means, good old drilling machine, fret saw and a couple of files, or if you are lucky enough to have access to a laser cutter, it can make light work of this task.

If you are doing this by hand, start off by drilling the bottle neck hole with a 30mm or 32 mm spade bit or hole saw.
Then drill the glass stem hole (14mm) and the 10mm hole to create the hook opening.
Cut the outside with a fret saw and finish off the detail work with a fine toothed file.

I've been lucky enough to have the use of a 25watt laser cutter, so once my CAD design is done, I can cut directly from that.

Step 5: Enjoy

Pull out a bottle of your favourite wine, show off your creation to your friends and enjoy a sun-downer in good company

Step 6: Go Green

The green project competition has made me think about the way I do things, and what I do with my waste. In a project like this where the design does not allow you to make use of the material very economically, and considering that I make quite a few at a time I have quite a lot of wastage.
Here is what I now do differently:

1. Material choice: I only use the locally produced acrylic (Persex from Lucite) as it 100% recyclable. I only use the coloured acrylic where I have a choice as these have a larger percentage of recycled material and less virgin material.

2. The larger pieces with no sharp corners are given to a preschool who use them to teach counting and play games with.

3. The 30mm circle cut-outs ore given to a local upliftment project that aims to empower the women of Zulu Land (rural South Africa) by teaching them new skills. The colourful acrylic is used to make ethnic jewellery and accessories they sell to generate income for their families. http://www.hamokhaya.com

4. In the spaces between the wine glass holders I've included some designs for earrings and wine glass markers which are now included in my range of products at the craft market. It has increased my laser cutting costs but will make up for it in the sales of the new items.

5. What I am left with after this cannot be utilised any further. I contacted the local manufacturer about collection of waste offcuts for recycling and they put me in touch with an entrepreneur who collects the waste for recycling. They are in turn paid for the material they collect and this has created an income for his family.

6. Lastly, I have put together a refillable active charcoal filter from pvc plumbing fittings that is connected to the exhaust outlet of the laser cutter's extraction fan to absorb gases that may be produced when cutting, but thats a whole Instructable on it's own.

In Conclusion
I'd like to say that I am proud to have turned this project into something that has zero percent wastage and is 100 percent recyclable

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