DIY Glasses Made from Wine Bottles – Barware, Candle Holders and More

This tutorial shows you how to make drinking glasses and fancy barware from recycled wine bottles. The process is easier than you think.

A few years ago, I bought my twenty-something nephew and his lovely girlfriend, some glasses made from wine bottles, at an Etsy store. I’ve been dying to make some ever since.

So after a little trial and error, I did it. 

I had been gathering bottles for a couple of months. One thing I wish I had done right away was to remove the labels. This was truly the hardest and most frustrating part of the project.

I’ll save you some trouble. Use turpentine, it was the only thing that worked well for me.

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Making the Wine Bottle Glassware

First, you need to buy a glass cutter. I purchased this Bottle Cutter from Amazon for around $16. 

Start by scoring the bottle at the height you want.

This varies from bottle to bottle. To change it simply loosen the wing nuts and slide the bar up and down to your desired height.

I’m right-handed, so I kept pressure with my right hand and used my left hand to turn the bottle.

Breaking the Bottle

Next is the cool part. I tried using the two bucket method, described in the bottle cutter directions, but that did not work for me.

Instead, I used this the following method I found in this video.

Caution: You should wear protective eyewear just in case.

Place towels in the sink or a plastic bucket with some water as shown here. Then pour boiling water on the score mark, while turning the bottle over the sink.

Then run cold water on the score mark while turning the bottle again.

Sometimes it will break right away. Others required a few repeated steps of boiling and cold water.

You may hear a crackle and then, boom, the bottom falls into the bucket.

A couple of them did not break evenly and cracked through the glass. I can only guess that I did not do a good job of scoring.

The bottle cutter came with some sanding paper so you can sand the edges.

I ended up with 5 glasses made from 7 wine bottles. I’m even thinking of turning the bad ones into candles like my friend Tanya of Lovely Greens did.  Don’t they look beautiful with the wooden wicks? 

These wine bottle glasses make great handmade gifts as pretty barware and I’ve even used them to hold pens, scissors, and other office supplies in my office.

This just might be one of my favorite projects. I would definitely try this one again.