Liquor Lamp Upcycle

My self and my girlfriend decided to transform tequila into a bright idea. We used the bottle to make a neat little lamp.

Step 1: Tools and Supplies

For our version of the project you will need the following items:

• One Liquor bottle (Price varies, ours was found in a recycle bin)
• Make your own lamp kit (12$ at Home Depot, you could make it yourself from an old lamp too)
• Small glass rocks or gems (4$ to fill our jar from dollar tree)
• 1" x 12" strip of duct tape
• A dremel or equivalent rotary device
• 1 diamond coated drill bit and cutting fluid (this is a must for glass drilling)
• 1 sonic screw driver (its a real thing)

One item that is a must if you plan on drilling into your bottle is the diamond coated bit, anything else will more than likely crack the bottle you attempt to cut. Everything else on the list can vary depending on your own liquor preference or material sources.

Step 2: Cutting the Hole

As a warning, cutting glass is not difficult if you have the right tools, it is however very dangerous to breath in any of the glass dust from the cutting. WEAR A FACE MASK, GOGGLES, AND GLOVES, don't want your lungs or eyes to bleed, that would be painful.

The cutting process can take about 5-10 minutes depending on the rotary tool you are using. Install the diamond bit and put a couple drops of cutting fluid on it and the location of where the hole will be on the bottle. Rev up your tool to 15000 rpm and apply light pressure to the bottle. You will need to stop and apply more cutting fluid anytime you begin to see dust fly. The fluid helps the cutter to cut but in this case also helps to absorb the glass dust. Repeat until your hole is complete.

We put our hole in the back of the bottle on the barcode, we wanted to keep the label as complete as we could.

Step 3: Wire It, Fill It, and Plug It

Our lamp kit came with a rubber plug that was just too small to fit tightly into the bottles opening. Take that strip of duct tape and wrap up the plug until it fits like a tight cork. You should be able to still move it in and out of the bottle, but it should not be loose.

Run the wire through the bottle and fill it with the stones if you like (helps to camouflage the cable). Next you will want to wire the light socket, follow the instructions of kit you purchase or rewire a used socket the same way you unwired it.

Once wired and assembled, place the plug/socket assembly into the bottle and make sure it has a nice snug fit. If loose, add some more duct tape as needed.

Step 4: Lamp Shade and Finale

The last step is to place a bulb in her and put a shade on it. Put a size appropriate shade on her, it may look ridonculous if you don't. I think it looks pretty neat, would go great in a man cave.