This is a bracelet that I made from a wine bottle. I have cut the bottoms off of wine bottles before, but I thought this was something just a little different. The idea is to cut a "ring" of glass from the bottle, then decorate it. I used etching cream and glass paint for the decoration.

Step 1: Cut the Wine Bottle

There are a lot of fixtures and devices that are available for cutting bottles. I have not used any of them, so I do not have any opinion on their effectiveness. I decided to make my own quick, cheap and easy bottle cutter.

I bought a standard (cheap) glass cutter from the hardware store. Next , I mounted it on a couple of pieces of scrap wood. Done. The cutting technique is to press the bottle against the cutter and the raised block of wood along the edge of the fixture. Rotating the bottle with your hand as you press it against the cutter - stabilized by the wood block - gives a nice score all around the bottle.

Notice that there is a separate piece of wood that can placed on the base of the fixture. This varies the height of the cutline, allowing different spacings between cuts. This gives different bracelet widths.

My technique for actually breaking the glass along the score line is to use boiling water. I slowly pour about 3 cups of boiling water (from a saucepan or kettle) over the score line on the bottle. Then immediately run cold water over the score. The glass should break along the score. I get about a 50% yield with this technique.

Step 2: Breaking the Sharp Edges

After the glass ring has been taken out of the bottle, the edges will be SHARP. I use Emery Cloth to smooth the edges. I do it by hand, sanding the edges carefully. It goes pretty fast, especially with a coarse cloth.

Step 3: Acid Etch

I decorated my bracelets by first giving them an etched pattern. The blue tape is standard "painter's tape", wrapped around the bracelet. I then drew a pattern on the tape and cut the pattern out with an exacto knife. Using an etching cream, I covered all of the glass that I wanted to have a "frosted" appearance. The directions for the etching cream indicate that it is not supposed to be used to cover a large area, but I have had no problem. Just use a lot of etching cream and let it work, at least an hour. After an hour or so, rinse off the cream with running water.

Safety - the etching cream is an acid and WILL irritate your skin. WEAR GLOVES. Be careful of splashing when you rinse off the etching cream, WEAR GLASSES.

Step 4: Painting

There are several different brands of glass paint that I have used. When I went to the craft store, this is the brand that was available. I have had good luck with all that I have used.

In order to give a "random" effect, I placed a small amount of paint on a piece of newspaper, wrapped my hand in a plastic bag, then dabbed the paint onto the glass. I liked the effect it gives. There are different types of paint bottles available with these paints. One has a normal type of bottle opening, the other has a narrow, "pointed" opening. I used the narrow type of opening to "draw" the black design directly onto the glass.

Step 5: Baking the Paint

The paint will need to be baked in order to cure properly. The technique is to put the glass in a COLD oven, set the temperature to 325 degrees, and bake. After the oven gets to 325, the painted glass needs to be at that temperature for at least 30 minutes. I have gone over that time (by a lot) without problem. Once the painted glass has been at temperature for 30 minutes or more, turn the oven off. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR. Let the painted glass cool down to room temperature in the oven. Depending on the design, you may need to "fire" the painted glass more than once. This bracelet took 2 firings.

Note that the heating and cooling cycle for this step is to minimize thermal shock to the glass so that it will not crack.