Tutorial Tuesdays- How to Make a Wine Bottle Votive

Ever wonder what to do with your empty wine and liquor bottles?  Sure you can put them in the recycling bin, but some bottles are so pretty, you don't want to throw them out.  I am going to show you how to put those lovely bottles to good use!

All you need is: a bottle cutter (I am currently using the G2 bottle cutter), a pot of boiling water, a large bowl of ice cold water, glass paint and an LED votive (I ordered my LEDs online)

I am going to upload a video demonstrating the glass cutting technique we use tomorrow, but I will also outline it here:

Quick Tip:  You can use candles with wine bottle votives, BUT, you have to have a small hole at the bottom of the bottle to let air in, or a vacuum is created and the candle will not stay lit.  If you have a candle in the wine bottle, the bottle becomes extremely hot, VERY FAST.  I prefer LEDs to avoid the heat.

First, wash your bottle and remove the labeling after soaking the bottles in hot water. It helps to use one of those green scrub sponges and rub the labels off.  Some of them will come right off.  For the labels that are really sticky, remove all the paper you can with your rough sponge and then dry it off and take Duck Tape to remove the remaining adhesive.  You just wind some tape around your fingers and tap and pull on the bottle.  Do not use a knife to remove the adhesive.  Acetone does not seem to do much good either.

If you are ready to cut your bottle, get a large pot of boiling water going. It needs to be a full rolling boil. Right beside it, get a large bowl of ice cold water ready.  It helps to have ice cubes floating around the bowl.  Have extra ice on hand!  You are stressing the glass so it will break evenly, so really hot and really cold water, both, are necessary.

Adjust your bottle cutter so that the sharp scoring edge sits where you would like it to sit.  You can take the bottom off the bottle OR you can take off the top, whichever you prefer.  I like cutting the bottom as it is more unique to keep the shape of the wine bottle.

The top arm swivels and moves up and down

When you score the bottle, score LIGHTLY.  You do not want to re-trace your score line or make it too deep, that will make the bottle crack unevenly when you stress it in the water.  You will hear a soft scoring sound as you turn the bottle against the sharp cutter.  Hold the bottle with the cutter attached in one hand (keeping the plug in the top of the bottle) and with the other hand, turn the bottle firmly against the scoring tool, twisting it slowly around.

This is a close up of the sharp scoring blade

To help make sure you do not overtrace your score line, mark your bottle with a sharpie to show where the score line starts and mark a line just before your start line.  When you are turning the bottle, it is difficult to see the start line and you do NOT want to go past it.

Once it is scored, dip your bottle in the boiling water for 10 - 20 seconds.  Take it out and dip it in the cold water for 10-20 seconds and keep doing this, back and forth, until the bottom of the bottle pops off. When you have a great score line, it literally pops right off and the edges of the bottle are smooth!

Right now, I have my wonderful husband scoring my bottles as he has the strength to hold the bottle firmly while twisting it against the cutter.  I am able to score a bottle, but have a hard time not re-tracing my score lines.   I am breaking 7 out of every 10 bottles, lol, but the ones that work out look so cool!

Check out my video to see the LED light in action after I decorate my bottle. 

Watch how I learned to cut a glass bottle. 

I will do a glass painting tutorial very soon...

Happy Crafting!