After receiving a very nice limited edition ceramic bottle of my favourite spiced rum for Christmas last year I had a thought that it might be worth doing something productive with the vessel once the contents were completely guzzled! Then it occurred to me... what better way to display it than as a bed side or table lamp!? So here it is... an up-cycled Kraken bottle lamp and how I made it...

Of course, any bottle of your choice could be used!

Supplies

An empty decorative bottle of your choice.

A lamp shade of your choice.

Lamp kit.

Bulb (check that it will fit your bulb socket and lamp shade).

Drill.

Diamond hole saw bit.

Drill bit that matches the width of your threaded tube (from lamp kit).

Hand saw.

Screw drivers for wiring plug and bulb switch.

Step 1: Drill a Hole for the Lamp Cable

Using a drill with a diamond hole saw bit, drill a hole in the bottom of the bottle where you want the cable to exit. Take it nice and easy with a bowl of water nearby to keep the saw bit cool. I would recommend securing the bottle in a vice, but we don't have one so my husband is acting to secure the bottle from moving while I drilled.

Step 2: Drill a Hole for the Threaded Tube of Bulb Socket

Next is to prepare the bottle cork/bung to secure the bulb socket. First drill a pilot hole using a smaller drill bit to make sure you get a nice and central hole. Then using a larger drill bit, that matches in size to your threaded tube, drill a hole through your bottle bung. This is so the threaded tube will fit nice and snug.

Step 3: Shorten Bung and Secure Bulb Socket Base

Make sure the bung is short enough to allow the threaded tube to poke out the bottom a little. I had to shorten this one with a hand saw before screwing the threaded tube in and securing with the provided nut.

Step 4: Screw the Retainer Screw

This was probably the fiddliest bit. Screwing this little retainer screw in to hold the tube into the fitting. A little trick to help is to put a little blu/white tack onto the screw to hold it to the screw driver while you manoeuvre it into the hole.

Step 5: Thread the Lamp Cable Through the Cable Hole and Bulb Socket Base

Step 6: Wire the Plug

Strip the insulation from the end of the earth (green and yellow), neural (blue) and live (brown) cables to expose the copper wires and give the wires a little twist to tidy. Unscrew the plug casing to expose the pin terminals inside. Connect each wire to the correct terminal as shown on the given plug diagram. Slacken the screws in each pin terminal and push the bare wire into the hole and then re-tighten the screw until secure. Finally, re-screw the plug casing together.

Step 7: Wire the Bulb Switch

Similar to step 6, strip the insulation from the end of the earth (green and yellow), neural (blue) and live (brown) cables to expose the copper wires and give the wires a little twist to tidy. Next is to insert the exposed wires into the holes on the bulb switch and screw to secure. With this kit the neutral and live wires could go either left or right and the earth in the central terminal hole.

Step 8: Secure the Bulb Switch to the Base

Now the bulb switch is ready to be secured to the base with the provided nut... just twist it on!

Step 9: Secure the Lamp Shade and Bulb

Detailed instructions aren't really necessary... use the lamp shade fittings to secure it to the lamp socket and all that's left then is to insert your chosen bulb. We love Edison style bulbs.