Introduction: Upcycled Wine Bottle Watering

About: I am a Mad Scientist and IT gal with a passion for projects. I love figuring out puzzles, solving problems, and finding out new ways to get things done!

In this instructable, I'm going to teach you how to turn wine into water!

Or at the very least, teach you how to upcycle wine bottles into an automatic watering system for your garden.

These work on the same principle as the glass watering bulbs for gardens (such as Aquaglobes.)

These are PERFECT for container gardening, porch gardening, patio gardening, or even in-ground plants.  It is ESPECIALLY good for tomatoes in hot areas, and keeps them well hydrated even between waterings,

I only included the template for my Tomatoes version, but it wouldn't be hard to find clipart of other vegetables.

and if you enjoy this instructable, please vote for me in the Gardening contest!

What You Will Need:
Wine Bottles
Contact Paper or Vinyl (I used the kind from Dollar Tree)
Silhouette or other cutter (You can also use an x-acto knife and cut the pattern by hand if you're careful)
Armour Etch (glass etching cream, by the stained glass supplies in craft stores)
Gloves
paint brush
extra newspaper 
masking tape or duct tape.

Step 1: Remove the Labels

First things first, you're going to want to remove those labels.

 The easiest way is to soak the bottles in hot soapy water for about half an hour.

 The label should then easily peel off, but if not a bit of scrubbing with steel wool or an abrasive sponge helps to get it off quickly.

Step 2: Cut Out Your Stencil From the Template

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the design.  I kept getting an error trying to upload the silhouette template, but here is the image I used.  You can use the trace function in Silhouette Studio to easily create a new template.

If you used the silhouette, you can easily use both the positive and negative stencils created.

If you are careful cutting it out by hand, you may be able to as well.

If you don't want tomatoes, you can find many other vegetables in clip art form.  Just look for outlines, stencils, or silhouettes of the veggies, those work the best for the templates.  I used the forte font for the text.

Step 3: Carefully Apply

After making sure the bottle is clean and dry, apply your stencils so that the top of the stencil is near the bottom flat part of the bottle.

Be very careful, especially with the thin lines of the tomatoes!  

Tape off all extra area with masking or duct tape and add newspaper to cover all parts of the bottle except the part being etched.

Step 4: Apply Etching Cream

Make sure the bottles are on a stable surface.  I padded them around with more newspaper so they couldn't roll around.

Wearing gloves, apply the etching cream thickly over the areas to be etched.  

You should not be able to see the stencil through the etching cream.

Leave on for approximately 10-15 minutes for maximum effect.

Step 5: Rinse Off

Wearing gloves, carefully rinse off all of the etching cream using cold water and paper towels.  Dry bottles completely.

Admire the beautiful tomatoes.

Step 6: Water Plants

Fill the bottles up with water to the very brim of the bottle.  

After watering your plant, quickly turn the bottle upside down and shove into the dirt about 6-8 inches from the base of the plant.

As the soil dries out, it will gradually drain the water from the wine bottle. 

This is great for hot areas where the ground dries quickly between waterings, or especially for people who forget to water their tomatoes (raises hand).


Step 7: Admire Your Handiwork

Enjoy!  Aren't they beautiful?  

Not only are you recycling something into a beautiful and functional piece of art,
but you're using that to LITERALLY make the world a greener place!

and if you enjoyed this instructable, please vote for me in the Gardening contest!

For more awesome projects, visit my blog...The Procrastibaker!

Gardening Contest

Participated in the
Gardening Contest

Epilog Challenge V

Participated in the
Epilog Challenge V

Instructables Green Design Contest

Participated in the
Instructables Green Design Contest