7 Creative Uses To Recycle Wine Bottles
Posted by drinknectarJul 12
What do you do with your leftover wine bottles? Do they make their way to the uninspired recycle bin awaiting their fate in a fiery furnace? Maybe you’re like me and save a few of your memorable bottles and they adorn the tops of your kitchen cabinet. I still have the bottle of wine that we were drinking when I proposed to my wife. Sometimes I save bottles just so my wine rack doesn’t look so defeated. Many bottles are beautiful works of art and that glass has to be useful for something other than being reincarnated as…gasp…a beer bottle.
Here are 7 creative uses for your wine bottles. I would love to hear of anything fun that you do. Please share in the comments if you’ve done any of these or if you have other inspiring ideas to share with the readers here. Not only is it hip to go ‘green,’ the wine bottle makes for an elegant decoration.
From the Vine to the Flower
Creative angled cuts with a glass cutter and you have yourself a decorative vase.
Stemware without the Stem
A simple cut with a glass cutter and some edge finishing gives new life to wine bottles.
Shine A Light Outside
A few simple items from the hardware store, some premade ceramic wine glass torch toppers, and some fuel and you have yourself a creative outdoor torch.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Wine
Cut a hole in the bottom, fill with a short strand of Christmas lights and you have yourself a fun lighting solution.
Grand Lighting Solution
This industrious crafter could build a unique lighting solution that is sure to be a show stopper and conversation starter.
For the Builder
Take an old glass table top and add wine bottle punts for some new artsy loft flare.
A Work of Living Art
An alternate take on the outdoor lamp, use some ordinary hardware items to create a work of wine wall art .
BONUS: For the Over Indulging Wino
This Christmas tree is made entirely of wine bottles. I bet there was a severe hangover after that party!












[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Wine Lovernews, Josh Wade. Josh Wade said: 7 Creative Ways to Recycle #Wine Bottles http://bit.ly/bLwLri [...]
Neat blog, Josh, I love all the photos. We haven’t thrown a wine bottle away in the two years we’ve lived in Washington. That means have about, oh a dozen or so empties.
One use we’ve come up with so far, recycling with homemade wine. A couple hundred have seen that cruel fate and some of them are now on their second trip through the recycle bin, er, closet.
My next idea is to build a cellar wall out of bottles stacked on their sides punt side into the cellar and bottles recorked to create an air insulated wall. Some construction kinks to work out, like how to mortar and how to hang things on that wall but it might happen this winter. It does take a boatload of bottles to build a decent size wall that way though and if I get to the point of actual construction I’ll probably scour tasting rooms for more empties.
Chris that sounds like a fun adventure. Sadly, you’ll need to drink more wine! Share some pictures through twitter/facebook when you get around to constructing!
Josh
Josh – nice post. Some cool ideas in here. I’m right there with you about having a few significant empties around the house. The bottle my wife and I drank when I proposed is front and center on our mantle!
Chris – that sounds like a really cool (yet challenging) idea. I echo Josh’s sentiments in wanting to see pictures if you do decide to tackle the project!
Cheers,
Mike
Mike, what was the bottle you proposed with?
These are all great ideas, Josh. Thanks for sharing them. I personally like the christmas lights in the wine bottles.
Thanks, Frank! Looks like I need to invest in a glass cutter! I love the light fixture…breathtaking!
HAHAHA! The Christmas tree has me laughing so hard I almost peed! Thanks for the smile Josh- great post, and very consumer friendly.
Isn’t that crazy! Maybe we should try something like that this Christmas. Haha!
This is fabulous. I want to do some of these
They are pretty darn cool! Some look pretty easy…others…not so much.
So how much is a glass cutter?
wow how beautiful..any ideas where I can buy a glass cutter..I do have an idea..but would like to try making it first and then would be more happy to send pictures and how I did it..thank you so much for sharing..nice Mary
Mary and Nicole – I found this glass cutter online…looks like about $30 and some practice would get you started. http://www.nextag.com/ARMOUR-Bottle-Jar-Cutter-541449528/prices-html
I did stained glass as a hobby. Before dringing wine and building wine cellars out of wine bottles became my hobby. Anyway, that glass cutter Josh linked is similar to any glass cutter that might be used to cut stained glass. It doesn’t actually CUT the glass, it scores it along a continuous line, then when you tap the glass just the right way it breaks evenly along the score line. This takes practice with flat stained glass, I’m sure practice with this device and many trial bottles is needed too.
The other thing you’d probably want is a glass grinder to smooth the edges after cutting. The grinders using in stain glass I’m familiar with, that would work, range from $100-$300, GoldStar is the brand I own and various grits of grinding wheel are avaialbe. Talk to your local glass hobby store then look for a used one on E-bay, everyone who is a glass hobbiest has one that they want to get rid of when they become a wino like me. I’m keeping mine to turn my wine bottles into art
Thanks for the great info, Chris!
Nice!
Great minds think alike (And drink alike too!)
I’ve been doing a series of what to do with those excess wine corks.
Keep up the great work.
Cheers!
Awesome! Provide the link here so people can see what you’re up too!
Here’s the first two links in our series of what to do with wine corks.
Put a Cork in It! – Part One: ReCork http://bit.ly/dfVYLk
Put a Cork in It! – Part Two: Get Framed http://bit.ly/crG1kz
Awesome!
And what is the best way to do the edge finishing after you cut the glass?
From what I’ve seen a fine grit dremel tool (sp?) attachment or by hand.