For my Upcycle project, I decided to make a collection of items with rustic aesthetics out of wine bottles. To achieve this, I decided to look into glass cutting and the type of textures you can get from glass. As glass is brittle and usually hard to work with, I had to be careful, so I purchased a glass-cutting kit from amazon that included special gloves and a pencil to score the glass before cutting. I first had to remove the labels from the bottles, which I accomplished by using hot water, baking soda, and a credit card.
Now that the glass was clean, I could start with my first idea: to cut the bottom off a bottle with a bulge and cut the neck off the same bottle. From there, I could sand the edges, so there were no sharp areas and glue the neck of the bottle to the bulge of the bottom to create a wine glass. After letting the super glue cure for a day, I was able to test for leakage and use it the next day. It now sits in my cabinet, waiting for it to be used.
My next idea was to use a bottle as a canvas for painting. So when thinking of what I wanted to paint, I thought of my favorite artist, Van Gogh. The Starry Night painting could be a good test for me to try out on the bottle. So I started by painting a white rectangle on the bottle and taped an inner rectangle where I painted it royal blue. From there, I could try my best to recreate and add some of my artistic liberties (more like mistakes) to the painting. As you can see below, I believe it turned out quite well for my abilities.
Finally, I experimented with cutting a unique shape out of the bottle. I chose to try to cut a raindrop out of the bottle to turn it into a candle. I initially taped out the raindrop shape and scored it into the bottle, as seen in the photos below. Then I poured boiling water followed by cold water, which caused the bottle to crack in non-scored areas and eventually break into the sink, as seen below. I think this happened because I forgot to pour the boiling water over the whole bottle before pouring the cold water. I also believe that I could have scored the bottle a little deeper to penetrate and cause the break to happen easier. In my upcoming trials, I will make sure I implement these changes.
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Hi Hayden, I also loved this idea and think it could be an interesting and useful skill to be able to repurpose and work with glass as you have. I think the wine glass was an awesome creation and the painting will also be a nice aesthetic addition. I’m excited to see what else you come up with as you improve your glass-cutting techniques.
Thanks for the comment, Ben! It’s definitely been a challenge working with glass, as I have broken a few wine bottles already. It has been interesting learning better ways of scoring the glass, pouring hot water, and then using cold water to thermally shock the glass to cause the score to run deeper and eventually break away. Your tensegrity table looks awesome; excited to see it in person!
I think it is really interesting to see the different ways that you take on this challenge and try to implement different designs with the bottles. I really enjoyed the first picture of the glass you made and I am curious if you plan on exploring different sizes and lengths of bottles. Possibly a champagne bottle, maybe something tall and narrow? Just some different ideas but I really enjoyed what you have so far.
Thanks for the comment, Matt! I have a few different-shaped bottles like the straight one seen above, rosé bottles with long necks, and champagne bottles with a more bulbous base. It has also been interesting to see how different bottles have been engineered for their use case. For example, the champagne bottles I have tended to have thicker glass which would make sense since they hold higher pressures than a bottle of red or white wine. I was able to make a wine glass out of a transparent rosé bottle, but my attempts with a champagne bottle were unsuccessful as the glass was thick, and the scoring didn’t help enough and caused the bottle to shatter. I hope to find a way to make a glass out of a champagne bottle, as it could be cool. I also really liked your presentation on Monday about your upcycle project. I enjoyed how the cardboard followed the same representation of the structure with the flat sheets as the Barcelona Pavilion and how the base was built up in layers to make it seem more real. Good Job!