I am going to explain the process of upcyclying a bottle of wine, whiskey etc to make a beautiful hanging pendant lamp.

You will need

1)A old bottle

2)Stencils

3) Bulb Holder

4)Bulb

5)Gloves, face mask and eye protection (Important: Please do not hold any responsible for any episode, you have been warned)

6)Pen knife

7) A glass sawing wire

8) Polishing stone/Sandpaper

9) Acetone

Lets get started

Step 1: Stenciling

Cleanup the bottle of any stickers or labels, then clean once more with acetone, then atleast twice more until you can hear the sound of clean glass when you rub really hard with a cloth.

Do not touch the bottle after cleaning in any way near the area where we want to stick the stencil.

Place your stencil, rub it for a few minutes so that it settles. I used a vinyl cutter and a custom design for Diwali.

Weed out the unimportant parts from the stencil, then use a transparent tape, remove as much glue from the tape as possible by sticking it to a cotton cloth, then removing. do this a couple of time. We want to have the tape just slightly sticky, but not a strong sticky hold.

Stick the tape to the stencil, then hold the paper holding the stencil and pull up the tape. The stencil should not be transferred to the tape. The tape could curl, so be careful.

Gently position one small edge of your stencil on the glass bottle to ensure its aligned properly. When done, rub it hard to make the stencil stick well.

Remove the tape in a diagonal slow pull ensuring that the stencil does not lift off. Once done, go over the edges of the stencil one more time to remove any bubbles.

Step 2: Making the Etch Bath

Put on your goggles, gloves and face mask. Right now.

Empty a kg packet of Acid-water etching powder available in India from etchon.co.in

Empty a litre of HCL available in India at hardware stores. Stir with a wooden object like a spatula or a square block. Do not splash.

This reaction is endothermic, meaning that the solution will be cold, almost as cold as refrigerator water.

Pour this in a sealed pipe to ensure that we have enough to sink our bottle in full.

Step 3: Dunk Your Bottle

Please do this outdoors as shown in the photos. You can mess up tiles and flooring badly even if a single drop of the solution drips.

Immerse the stenciled bottle into the pipe for atleast 90 seconds. You want to make sure that the cap is secured tightly and no liquid can go through inside the bottle.

Turn and twist the bottle inside the pipe when immersed in the solution.This ensures a uniform etch.

Once done, rinse throughly with plain water.

Step 4: Cleanup the Stencil

Wash bottle with plain water

Remove stencils to expose the etch.

Cleanup glue behind the stencil with acetone.

Step 5: Sawing

You will need someone to pour water over the cut as you slowly go around with your glass saw.

You should not cut it like wood, you want to make sure that you cut a small depth everytime all around the bottle instead of cutting though it from top to bottom.

Go slow, push just enough to make a cut, but not the whole body weight.

The bottle will part on its own.Immediately, finish the surface with sandpaper or polishing wheel.

Step 6: Lighting It Up

Put a bulb socket inside the bottle though the neck of the bottle. Drill a hole in the cap, tie a knot on the wire so that the wire wont slip and hold the weight of the bottle. you can also use the wire used for bicycle brakes for added strength, and fix it to the holder, so that it doesn't slip.

Make sure that none of the contacts of the holder touch the brake wire/cable. Use a glue gun to isolate them.

You lamp is ready. Turn on the switch and hang it outside during the festival of light, Diwali..