Light Up Wine Bottle

This is a cool project to make putting christmas lights in a wine bottle. Another option you could do is use led light, the Christmas lights are great for the holiday and any time of year. These are great for gift too. I used a glass drill bit to cut threw threw the wine bottle which was easier than I thought it was going to be. I did make a jig for making the wine bottle easier to cut. This only requires a short string of lights. Make sure your lights aren't the kind that connect into each other, you want a light on the end not another plug extension. I found using a clothes hanger bent helps pull the lights by sticking it in the top. I made the jig with scrap wood and had a bottle of wine laying around. You can find glass bits at harbor freight or online for cheaper.

you can order the lights here

Empty bottle of wine

christmas lights string

tape or cork - for around lights string going into bottle

hanger- pulling lights threw

drill

glass drill bit

scrap wood for jig

screws for jig

saw to cut wood for jig

Making a jig helps keep the wine bottle from moving when you are drilling the hole. You could just prop up the bottle at the edge of two pieces of wood but I made the jig. To make the jig I made the base of it the length of the wine bottle and the width was 7 inches the the size of the board I had. Then you will need to cut two strips of wood to screw down to the base part. The key to this is that there needs to be a 45 degree angle on the insides of them. The easiest way to to cut these is by taking a circular and moving it to the 45 degree marker. Cut your strip about an inch or two wide and cut your strip. Cut it twice as long as the wine bottle so you can use it for both side of the jig. This could also be done with a hand saw and speed square maring your angle and cutting along it. Then screw these strips to you base the width of the wine bottle. I held them down and put the wine bottle on it so where it didn't move. Removed the wine bottle and screwed down the strips in that spot.

Now cut your hole in the lower part of the bottle in the back. This is where you will slide the lights in. I used a half inch glass drill bit. I used my foot to hold down the bottle to jig. Make sure to where shoes. Also when cutting glass you should wear goggles or glasses cause glass can fling around. Mark your spot and start drilling go slowly take your time and add pressure slowly. I would practice on a spare wine bottle I did break one bottle making these.

As I mentioned before the string lights you want to use are the ones that don't have the plug to plug. The end of the string of lights should be a small light bulb. Start at this end and start feeding it threw the hole you carved. Push it threw one light at a time. Take a clothes hanger and bend it so that you put it down the mouth hole and hook it to the string of lights and pull it threw. Use the hanger to move the lights to a good spot were they look cool. Make sure to add to many lights. Once you have the lights in there and have enough slack to reach desired outlet add tape to the string to protect the wire from getting cut. Otherwise you could a cork and cut a slit for the wire then put the cork in the hole. Plug in and set in a cool spot and your done.