Feeling crafty? Turn your empty beer bottles into glasses

Have you got any beer bottles that it would be a real shame to simply throw away? Whether it’s the high quality glass, the shape of the bottles, or the design, sometimes old bottles can be put to use even once they’re empty.

For those who are into craft ideas, an inventive way to reuse your bottles is to repurpose them as bespoke household glasses. Beer and wine bottle glasses are a growing trend, with homemade products being showcased online. Using a variety of different bottles can create a unique set of branded glasses for your family and friends to enjoy.

What you will need

This cheap craft is easy to do and glasses can be made using any size, shape or colour of bottle that you wish. The great thing is that most of the things that you need are common household items. What you’ll need for this task is a range of bottles, some acetone (such as nail polish remover), a tea towel, small bowl, string, a lighter and some sandpaper.

Creating your glasses

1. The first thing to do is to select the bottles that you want to make into glasses and mark the height of the top of the glass on the bottle.

2. Next, create an ice bath using a couple of handfuls of ice and some cold water. Filling your sink should work fine, and the water should be just deep enough for a bottle laid down to be fully immersed.

3. Pour some acetone into a bowl, just enough to soak the string in.

4. Cut some string, enough to wrap around the bottle 6 times.

5. Wrap the string around the bottle where marked, keeping it tight to the surface and tying off, cutting off any excess ends.

6. Slide off the yarn and keep it in a circular shape, before completely submerging it in the acetone. Slide the yarn back onto the bottle at the correct point. Work over a towel to stop the acetone from falling on any surfaces.

7. Hold the bottle horizontally above your sink, holding at the furthest end away from the string.

8. Set the string on fire with the lighter, rotating slowly to ensure that all of the yarn burns.

9. As soon as the flame extinguishes, submerge the bottle into the ice bath and it should split exactly where the string was. If this does not fully work at first, simply repeat the process until it is fully successful.

Aftercare for your glasses

Once you’ve separated the two sections of your bottle, discard the bottle necks, doing so very carefully to avoid the sharp edges of the glass. Allow to cool fully, and use some sandpaper to sand the tops of the new glasses and remove any sharp edges. After the glasses are all fully sanded, they’re ready to enjoy using.

Premium bottles for your glasses

Creating the best homemade drinking glasses is not the same without using the highest quality glass bottles from JBC. From beer bottles to wine bottles, JBC stocks a huge variety of volumes and styles, to suit the needs of all of our customers. Find out more about our full glass bottle range here. Why not take a look at some of JBC’s new glass bottles

Glass bottlesHomemadeHow to