By ALDONA BIRD
Newsroom@DominionPost.com
If you’re frustrated by the difficulty of recycling glass these days, don’t throw bottles into the trash — give them a new upcycled life.
You can use them as-is for vases (decorative glasses look great in wine bottles), as storage containers (tomato sauce jars work well to store rice, beans and other dried goods), colored bottles can look great lined up on a window sill as sun catchers, and you can re-use canning jars for canning or crafts.
Glass bottles can also be cut for a variety of uses.
A wine bottle can be cut in half to make a drinking glass, or cut the bottom off and use the rest as a hanging lamp shade. The tops can also be arranged over small candles — but do so with care, as the glass can heat up too much.
Cut the bottom two or so inches off to make a round glass butter dish. These can also be used as snack or finger food dishes. An arrangement of colored or clear glass bottle bottoms filled with olives, mini pickles, crackers and cheeses can makes for a beautiful charcuterie board.
The neck cut off a beer bottle, with the lid crimped back on, can make a cute shot glass. The bottom half of a beer bottle makes a nice cocktail glass.
If a wine bottle has a divot in it, cut the bottom few inches off, turn it over and use it as a soft-boiled egg cup.
Larger glass jugs and bottles also have lots of potential. Cut the bottoms off to use as dishware as discussed above and use the tops as covers for food to keep bugs off (this will be especially handy when the weather warms up and we can entertain friends and family outside).
The large jug tops can also be placed over heat-loving potted plants as a mini terrarium.
There are three methods for cutting glass bottles. With any of them, wear protective eye coverings and gloves. The risk of injury with this craft is low, but it involves breaking glass and fire, so use common sense and care to avoid getting hurt.
For the first method, wrap a string (made of natural material such as cotton, linen or hemp) around your bottle where you want it to break.
Pour acetone or rubbing alcohol over the string to soak it. Using a lighter with a long stem, set the string on fire. After it burns, submerge the bottle into cold water.
Use a glass cutter for the second method. Tape around the bottle, aligning the top or bottom of the tape where you want to cut, as a guide. Score carefully with the glass cutter. Remove the tape, and hold the bottle over a candle, rotating the score over the flame with care.
When the glass is hot, run cold water over it, or rub an ice cube along the score. Repeat until you hear the glass cracking, and gently pull the bottle apart. If it does not break, repeat the hot and cold treatments until it does break.
The third method is to use a bottle cutter. Adjust the bottle cutter, and roll the bottle through it, as per instructions. Then use the alternating hot and cold treatments as described for the glass cutter option.
Use a glass grinder or sandpaper to smooth the edges of cut bottle.
Use and enjoy!
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