Check out this project on our blog: http://kitchncrafts.com/2019/01/19/bottle-lamp/

After finishing a bottle of Four Flights gin, we felt the bottle was too pretty to throw away. With the front and side of the bottle picturing the different botanicals used in making the gin, we thought this would make a nice accent lamp. With very little time invested and materials used, we were able to make this beautiful DIY lamp. Keep reading to find out how to make your own, or visit the store to purchase one pre-made.

Step 1: Materials

Required Materials:

Empty bottle (pick something pretty)
Battery powered LED lights (plug-in lights work as well if you leave enough cord outside the bottle plug them in)
Power drill
Glass cutting drill bit, sized about twice the diameter of the LED bulbs (we used 1/2″)
Sand paper
Super glue
Marker
Safety Equipment (Gloves, safety glasses, dust mask)

A note on safety: drilling through glass creates a fine dust that you don’t want to breathe in. It can also create flying shards of glass if you aren’t careful. Please be smart and wear a dust mask and eye protection.

Step 2: Procedure

To start, figure out which side will be the front of the lamp. Because we wanted both the front and left side of the bottle to show, we picked the back to be the right, rear corner. Hold your battery pack were it will sit on the back and mark where you want the wire to go through the bottle. In the picture above you can see the cross-hair about an inch above the battery pack, to keep the bend in the wire from being to sharp.

With the hole’s location marked, it is time to start drilling. Again, it is important to wear the proper PPE (personal protection equipment). You might notice the cordless drill sitting in the background in the picture above. We found the chuck of the cordless drill wobbled a bit, so we ended up using a corded drill, which gave a neater hole.

Make sure to read the directions that came with your glass-cutting bit. They often don’t like to spin at too high an RPM, or to spin without contacting a surface. There are several other tricks to drilling through glass. It is helpful to place a backing material behind the surface being drilled to prevent the glass from cracking. This is impractical when drilling through a bottle, as the back of the surface being drilled through is inside the bottle. Another tip is drill slowly, especially when you get close to breaking through to the other side. It is also helpful to stop frequently to remove any dust or debris from the hole

Now that we have our hole drilled, we can use some sandpaper to smooth out the edge. We can then feed the string of lights through, being sure to spread them around the interior of the bottle as we go. The last step is to glue the battery pack in place and let it dry

Step 3: Ta-Da!

Now that the lamp is finished, the only thing left to do is find the perfect place for it, and light her up! Let us know if you made you own, and share some pictures below!