Not only is it healthy to implement extra virgin olive oil into your diet but that step also gives you free bottles, which usually are great for glass upcycling projects. I’ve made many interesting and useful containers out of oil bottles, among them there are flower vases, storage totes, drinking glasses and now shot glasses. This project was about upcycling an empty oil bottle and giving it a second life as a shot glass. Perfect for personal use and as a gift, also quite easy to make. The ideal size for serving vodkas and liqueurs. I started by removing the…

Krupnik Old Liqueur ranks among my favourite liqueurs. Previously, I had repurposed an older version of the bottle it came in. Although they’ve updated its appearance, the flavour and recipe remained unchanged. The new bottle looked like an ideal project and I simply needed a new glass, especially something like that – slightly tapered towards the top, heavy and with thick walls. I couldn’t resist making one. Before scoring the line on the glass, I needed to change the cutting wheel. The jig I made was equipped with a head, simply snapped off from a glass cutter. Periodically, I rotate…

It was a typical upcycling project, almost like deja vu. Every step was a repetition or an exact copy of something that had already happened in the process of cutting glass containers. I sometimes find myself saying “Nothing changes, only the size and colour of the bottles”. That’s why I’m trying to tell the story short, in just a few paragraphs fortified with a couple of pictures. Upcycling glass always starts with scoring, followed by splitting and sanding. But maybe that means the process is perfectly mastered and that’s why it works every time. It’s rather predictable and repetitive than…

That wasn’t the first Tia Maria bottle I attempted to cut, but this time, it finally cracked the way I wanted. The process of separating the bottom from the top is usually unpredictable, so when the results are satisfying, I can’t help but jump for joy. I also employ an alternative glass-cutting method using a rotary tool, but this particular technique is my favourite due to its time efficiency. The jig I made years ago still performs good – I use it with the same C-clamp, only occasionally refreshing the wooden base and cutters for maintenance purposes. The workpiece is…

Using a rotary tool to cut glass had not been attempted in my workshop before that project. I had always used a glass cutter and dipped the workpiece alternately in icy and boiling water. That method worked okay, but it was quite unpredictable, with a failure rate of roughly 50 per cent, which meant that one out of every two attempts was a reject. That was still acceptable for me since all the material was free, but it was sometimes frustrating to see a rare bottle cracked in a way I didn’t want. Additionally, the old-school method had other limitations,…

It used to be a Halloween skull-shaped candle, filled with scented wax and designed to burn for a certain period of time. I knew from day 1, that this candle would be given a second life, if not as a flower pot then something else. The choice was eventually made and from a candle, it became … another candle or a candle holder to be more specific. Not a big difference but it required some work and time. What has surely changed was its ability to be used again and again. First, I had to empty out what was left…

This liqueur is one of my favourites, it comes in a redesigned bottle now that is perfect for drinking glasses and other containers – like flower vases. The front label is easy to remove but the back one requires white spirit to come off. As always, I cut the bottle with my jig and once the line is scored, I alternately pour boiling and cold water over it and it cracks. I use jars, oil bottles, wine bottles and everything else – square, round, it doesn’t matter. As long as the line is scored straight, there’s a big chance that…

This project is a remake of something that was made earlier and wasn’t used too much. It was called a bottleneck vessel and was made from an old champagne bottle. Cutting and polishing the bottle was briefly explained in that post, so I can now focus on part 2 of the making. The easiest way to insert a cable to the inside, and not do it from the top, obviously, is to drill a hole on the side. Another way is to cut off the bottom as I do every so often. But in this project, I drilled a hole…

Indeed, it looks like cranberries in a bottle, it’s even a cranberry liqueur bottle. Coincidence? – I don’t think so. The contents determined the LED string colour, it could be anything, but for this project, I used red lights. I simply drilled a hole for the LED string, installed a grommet and plugged the lamp in. Power consumption is very low, as this is a USB string, it also doesn’t generate heat. It’s a great present idea or a beautiful decoration for any table/shelf. Here’s the How-It’s-Made part: Drilling the hole was easy and done with the bottle completely submerged.…