DIY Cut & Blasted Wine Bottles
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Cheap Modern DeskMy latest Modern DIY came from pure curiosity. I had read about bottle cutters on different sites and forums and thought that could be pretty fun. I live in a area where there are a lot of wineries so that means there has to be plenty of wine bottles laying around. I personally don’t drink wine but was easily able to get my hands on some. I was also able to pick up a Ephrems Old Time Bottle Cutting Kit on eBay. Get some of the tips and tricks I learned on the way after the jump.
The directions that come with the kit are pretty strait forward. But there are a few tips I learned on the way.
While making your score on the glass roll the bottle towards you and only go around once. If you go over your score a second time you may make pathways for the glass to run during the heating and cooling processes.
The directions say to run an ice cube around the heated score, I found dunking the bottle vertically in ice water worked much better because it made the glass separate all at once instead of following your score with an ice cube.
Now that you have a cut bottle you have to deal with the sharp edges. The kit supplies a small amount of polishing grit which took way too long. I simply took my palm sander with a little water and wet sanded the lip. After I cut a few bottles I thought, “anyone could do this”. I have access to a sand blaster so I had some patterns cut at my local vinyl shop applied them and then sand blasted the bottle and got these beautiful raised translucent shapes.
I really don’t see these being used for drinking glasses. I see them more being used for pen holders or maybe in the bathroom holding your toothbrushes. Anyway I ended up with quite a few of these so I decided to throw them up on an Etsy shop if anyone wants to snag one.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/plastolux
Photos by Kim Fetrow
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Comments ( 32 )
Donald: Feb 02 10 at 9:45 amSweet! I’m a sucker for all type Swiss.
ModFruGal: Feb 02 10 at 10:07 amGreat job!!! The sandblasting is such a nice touch. I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile now…thanks for the tips!
creede: Feb 09 10 at 9:34 amReally nice work Tyler. I hope you have plans on making another run. Something tells me there will be some interest.
Tyler: Feb 09 10 at 10:23 amcreede, I do have a batch of about 20 more in the works
Morgan: Feb 12 10 at 9:02 pmI’m wondering what the cost is to get vinyl stencils cut?
Tyler: Feb 12 10 at 9:11 pmMorgan, the one place I went to was $32 a square foot but I also got a thicker vinyl to withstand the sand blasting
Marc: Jul 10 10 at 7:27 pmDid you try acid etching? You can use the thinner stencil, but the cut/ethc won’t be as deep as blasting.
Tyler: Jul 10 10 at 7:59 pmMarc, I didn’t try the acid etching because I knew it would not produce the effect I wanted.
Sandra: Nov 19 10 at 3:44 pmHow neat is this! I was just browsing for some mid-century modern design ideas and came across your post. Ephrem - the inventor of the original Ephrem’s bottle cutter - is my father-in-law. He still makes them. And he’s the nicest man you could ever meet.
I will show him the pics of your glasses. He’ll love them!
Warmly,
Sandra
Tyler: Nov 19 10 at 3:51 pmSandra, that is very cool. Has he improved the cutter any? I would love to see a newer model that could accommodate longer bottle lengths.
Sandra: Nov 21 10 at 1:31 pmHi - we just spoke to Ephrem and asked him about the longer bottle length… he would love to talk to you and exchange ideas. If you’d like, send me an email at sandrahenderson@mac.com, and I will give you his phone number.
Cheers,
Sandra
Anne Alexander Sieder: Jan 15 11 at 6:45 pmgreat idea! The sandblasted bottles (cut or not) would also make a phenomenal chandelier all bunched together at varying lengths. I’d love to see them with different width stripes.
Tyler: Feb 17 11 at 7:49 pmTiberia, thanks but I have more than I know what to do with right now.
Wendy: Apr 04 11 at 7:15 pmI LOVE the skull and crossbones one. Be great to serve drinks in at Halloween.
There is a lot of creative potential with a bottle cutter. Think outside the bottle.
Laura: Apr 04 11 at 7:15 pmThese are really cool. Have you seen the ones where you set the top of the bottle into the bottom to make a growbottle?
Tyler: Apr 04 11 at 7:22 pmLaura, I have seen those, very clever. We just moved into a new house and I am getting set up for some other things with cutting bottles, think lighting.
Samantha: Apr 04 11 at 7:29 pmIf you have access to a small kiln (or even medium size) I’ve found “fire polishing” the cut bottle rounds the lip and makes it better for drinking out of than using the grit, but that certainly isn’t as DIY as the grit since most people will not have access to a kiln.
thezenofmaking: Apr 05 11 at 12:14 amI’m jealous of your amazing cutting-in-a-straight-line skills! Sadly, I have quite the collection of sad, lopsided glasses.
Tyler: Apr 05 11 at 10:08 amthezenofmaking, THANKS! the tool makes it pretty easy
Tyler: Apr 05 11 at 10:09 amSamantha, I totally agree, sadly I don’t have access to a kiln.
cheryl: Apr 05 11 at 7:50 pmthese are so great…why wouldn’t you drink out of them?
Tyler: Apr 05 11 at 9:54 pmcheryl, they don’t hold enough liquid
Sunny: Apr 07 11 at 12:19 amDuring the sanding process how do you prevent inhaling a bunch of glass?
Tyler: Apr 07 11 at 9:56 amSunny, It is always a good idea to wear a mask. I keep all of the surfaces wet, I run a small stream of water across the edge of the glass and the surface of the sander. Don’t go too nuts with the water or you will electrocute yourself
Adrian: Apr 08 11 at 10:54 amThey look nice, the one with cross would look very nice if it was on red glass.
Kelly: Oct 29 11 at 8:41 amNow I know what I can do with all of my wine bottles! How fun! Thank you!
Something Handmade: Dec 24 12 at 4:58 amThat’s great! I’ve been looking for such kit for very long time.
Any ideas where I can find it?
Very nice results!
Tyler: Dec 24 12 at 9:51 amSomething Handmade, I found the kit on eBay
Glew: Feb 05 13 at 1:50 pmWhat kind of sandpaper did you use?
Tyler: Feb 05 13 at 1:54 pmGlew, I used a handheld sander with a really fine sand paper, nothing special.
