Photo courtesy of EtsyMandyrosy e-mailed me to let me know about her awesome idea for centerpieces: it's eco-friendly, budget-minded, hand-crafted, meaningful, and memorable!
She writes:
For centerpieces, I've decided to use recycled wine bottles as flower vases. I like this idea for three reasons:A Brief How-To for the Rest of Us:
- It's pretty! I love the transparent, subtle quality of glass, and I think the muted variety of colors we find in wine bottles will be perfect.
- I want to include some reused/recycled elements in the wedding and reception to reflect our values.
- My fiancé actually gave me a set of recycled wine bottle glasses (and a bottle of wine, of course!) for our first Christmas together. So it is a meaningful gesture for both of us AND he already knows how to do it!
Matt is going to be obsessed with this idea. He's been collecting glass bottles for a while now, and he even attempted something similar (although it didn't work out because he was using yarn and rubbing alcohol).I know he had some bottle casualties last time he made them, so it probably isn't quite as easy as it sounds–but still pretty easy!
- First you score the bottle. Ryan used picture-hanging wire to score the glasses he gave me, I think just wrapping the wire around where he wanted the bottle to break and pulling back and forth.
- Then you heat the scored line over a candle, turning the bottle so it heats evenly.
- When it cracks, you dunk the bottle in cold water, and that completes the break.
- To make it safe to drink from, you have to sand the edges.
Do you have an eco-friendly, budget-minded, or hand-crafted idea to share (it doesn't have to be all three!)? Please e-mail me at saracotner@yahoo.com.
10 comments:
Fabulous idea! I really love those blue Bombay Sapphire Gin bottles... almost as much as I love Bombay Sapphire Gin. Could be a good excuse to ask my friends to drink plenty of gin over the next 12 months and save up the bottles for us yippee.
wow i will have to try that. i was planning to save beer and wine bottles to use for flowers, candles, and water, but maybe i can do this too and make drinking glasses.
lllllove this!!
I want to try it! I was thinking of using vintage mason jars, but I want to use these too!
Thanks for the idea!
I remember seeing detailed instructions on making wine glass vases over on wedding bee a while ago.
http://tinyurl.com/c4n4uj
I've always loved the look of mis-match. Instead of buying a boatload of votive holders and vases for our "rustic chic" wedding, we've asked our friends and family to save all of the glass jars they'd otherwise chuck in to the recycling. Many jars have neat patterns on them, and they're all unique! (We'll probably end up filling in with mason jars.) My aunts and girlfriends love this easy way to continually be involved in helping create our wedding vision.
this is awesome. i have about 15 wine bottles saved over the last 3 months... originally iw as gonna buy corktop candelabras to put right into the wine bottles... still might do it... but now i can have both vases ad candleabras made of wine bottles.... how fun!
that is neat, never would have thought of that
Hello all! So...great idea! I actually did this for christmas presents this year. My boyfriend and I saved up 62 bottles, and worked away at it. HUGE project. Fun, but be prepared for more work, and more steps. Once you have a rough edge after scoring you will have to sand it- its the only way we could figure out how to do it. They turned out beautifully, but we gave them away as glasses. Email me if you have any questions, I would love to give you tips to be successful. With 62 to start, we had 22 that made it. Good luck!
- ahomegrownwedding.blogspot
I saw this project on weddingbee a while back, and I cannot bring myself to do this. Very impressed with the crafty skills of people who do it though.
This is fantastic, particularly as glass recycling has been discontinued locally. Not at our house, it hasn't!
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