Booze Lamp!

Well... after the final exams is a social necessity to burn all of the neurons used preparing the exam

During college years you'll probably throw away a LOT of bottles of booze water
What if you could turn them into a lamp?

You'll find different ways of doing this trick... the top 2 (IMHO) are from instructables.com  and witandwhistle.com





Here's the link for the original designs:

• http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-Vodka-Lamp-or-any-other-booze-bottl/#step1
• http://witandwhistle.com/2009/11/03/diy-wine-bottle-light/

For my little mash-up you'll need:

• Bottle(s)
• Drill
• Christmas Lights
• Sandpaper
• Sand (optional)
• PVC small tube (the diameter should be like the  Drill Bit's one)
• Sewing wire

Well... as you'll see the most frustrating and difficult part will be the Drilling

I suggest to practice with other bottles before trying with the chosen one.

If you're lucky enough to own a 1/2" glass bit you'll achieve the perfect hole in a nanosecond but if you're like me you'll have to go the hard way:

Check before drilling if the diameter of the light and the drill's bit are similar (I learned the hard way)

1. Choose the spot (near the bottom) where you want to drill the bottle
• Define the area with tape
2. Block the bottle in order to fix the spot
3. Start drilling and lean gently the drill
• You'll have to often stop and clean the glass dust

If you can't get any friction you can try to

• Glue/lean sandpaper to the drill's end
• Use sand

The sand method is fastest but risky: you'll have to glue the PVC pipe on the drilling area, and while drilling you'll have to go gently up and down while pouring a little amount of sand in the tube

If you're lucky enough you'll eventually reach the end. Immediately shut down the drill and pull it out.

Remove the PVC pipe (if you used it) and use the sandpaper to refine the hole.

Tie with a knot a small sewing wire to the first Christmas light and (helping yourself with a needle to spot it) pull it out from the bottle's top
(using this trick you'll be able to pull the light nearly to the top of the bottle, making the lamp's light homogeneous)

Carefully feed the strand of lights into the bottle trough the hole

If you want you can fix the hole with a rubber circle with hot glue

In my opinion, wine and Absolut Vodka bottles are the best for this project:
The last image is from the guide you'll find in instructables.com: the effect with Absolute's opaque glass is amazing

Ideas for a broken ceiling lamp

You just entered for the first time in your new apartment... the rent is really cheap and the scenario is more like a low budget horror movie rather than the cool movie-like loft you see in Hollywood movies. No worries!

Maybe the main ceiling lamp is broken (the ex owner was a Mexican student who broke it with a stick during a pinata-party)...

Crash - by Cezary Borysiuk

What if you could turn this disaster into something like this?

It's impossible to achieve the perfection of the design above (you'll find later the link) but you can try to make your own and get inspired by this design.

You'll need:

• Thin layer of dense glass
• Thin Plywood
• Small mirrors (optional)
• Hot Glue
• Drill
• Light Bulb Holder

The goal is to shape the glass and the Plywood into a hut-like shape (you can choose the size of the lamp but I think that, in this case, smaller is better). There are some good guides how to cut glass but i think that you'll save some time asking directly at your hardware store...

The glass will form the bottom, the front and the back of the house while the Plywood can be used as the roof  and the "lateral walls". You can assemble the parts with the Hot Glue.

The hole for the wire should be made in the precise center (Before gluing the whole thing xD )

The mirrors can be used in order to reflect the light from the "roof" but the illumination power of this lamp (even without the mirrors) is good

Another good modification is to use this lamp in a different way: you can modify the design to use this lamp as a bedside one: with a lightbulb holder you can block the lamp in the middle of the hut and (in this case) make just the back and the bottom with plywood.
(PS: the bedside lamp shaped like that can be used as a bookmark like the Reading Lamp by Jun Yasumoto)

The original design is from http://autumnproducts.com.au/ , an awesome design studio based in Sydney

(You can buy the original "Hut Pendant Light" here )