When you love good olive oil and balsamic vinegar flavors, you end up with a lot of empty bottles. Now what? If you live in an area that recycles class, wonderful, but many places don’t have that option. That leaves you either throwing the bottles away to sit in the landfill for centuries, or holding on to your empties at home.
We have a better idea. Here are some fun DIY projects you can try to turn your old oil or vinegar bottles into pretty, useful items around the house.
How to Etch Glass in Four Easy Steps
It sounds hard, but glass etching is actually very easy! Find a stencil design you like, get yourself some good glass etching cream, and get the glass surface you want to etch clean and dry.
Step 1: Make sure your etching cream is extremely well-shaken.
Step 2: Stick your stencil to the glass and make sure of two things – that the inside edges are well pressed down (you can use a hair dryer to help it stick), and that the outside edges are blocked off with tape so you don’t accidentally get etching cream outside of your design.
Step 3: Apply etching cream to the glass per the instructions on the bottle. When you wash it off, if the design isn’t etched as deeply as you want, just re-apply the etching cream and wait again.
Step 4: Wash the etching cream off, peel off your stencil, and behold your fancy new custom design!
Ideas: A medium-sized olive oil bottle with a pour top makes a wonderful liquid soap dispenser. And a set of customized stemware makes a lovely gift.
How to Make a Quick Easy Candle Centerpiece
To make a beautiful candle centerpiece, just cut the bottom off your empty bottles to whatever height you want them, then place them over small lit candles.
Cutting glass is surprisingly easy. A glass cutter basically scores a line into the glass that gets deeper as you turn the glass around and around. Once the glass is scored deeply enough, it breaks apart. You sand the edge smooth and you’re done. Glass cutter kits cost anywhere from $14 to $90, but there are plenty of good ones listed in the $20-$30 range.
Idea: Arrange a cluster or row of different height bottles over candles on a pretty tray for a simple, elegant centerpiece.
How to Make Tiki Torches
Using empty glass bottles to make a set of tiki torches is another easy craft to enjoy for yourself or give away as gifts. Getting some tiki torch fuel and empty bottles is the easy part, but you also have to get the supplies for the wick setup.
You can buy wick sets that include wick, brass fitting, and rubber o-rings very inexpensively. And if you like the look of them, you can even add a copper cap on a chain to protect the wick.
How to Make a Light Bottle
One of the prettiest things you can make out of an empty oil or vinegar container is a light bottle. Tiny LED lights strung on wire can be stuffed into the empty jar. The battery and controller are built into a cork-shaped device that pushes into the neck of the bottle and keeps the controls nice and handy.
Voila! No cutting, no etching, just pretty and easy re-purposing that will add a warm glow to your home or porch and delight your friends. Put those empty oil and vinegar bottles to good use!