Upcycle Progress: Wine Bottle Terrariums

The progress for the upcycle project is going well. I have collected all of my needed wine bottles (plus quite a few extra) and have already begun trying to score the bottles with the glass cutter. If this technique doesn’t work, I have also seen videos of people dipping a length of twine in acetone, wrapping it around the bottle and setting it on fire. After the fire has burned out, you quickly put the bottle into some ice water which causes a fracture at the desired area. A photo of this technique is shown below:

Image courtesy of [1]

I am hoping to cut the wine bottles diagonally and then mount them on a diagonal piece of wood onto a wall. This will allow me to have the plants growing out of a horizontal surface that is basically just an ellipse rather than a circle. A concept render of this idea is shown below:

So far progress is good, I’m just thinking that I might have to do away with the idea of including lights into the piece. Additionally, the tricky thing is that I am going to have to cut the bottles in a really non standard way. Most of the online tutorials have involved cutting the bottles straight across. This is generally easier than cutting an ellipse into the bottles. My plan is to not worry too much about how similar each cut is to the other ones.

Additionally, I am thinking that it would be really cool to use a found piece of wood instead of the board that I have pictured above. If I can find one that meets my needs I’ll definitely try and incorporate it! I’m hoping to see something of a more natural feel into the art.

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