Upcycle Progress: 1920s Speakeasy Bottle Lamp

I am happy to say that I have made a good amount of progress on my project. I was able to source a few empty glass bottles from my roommates. My friend Ayden donated a large, empty Tito’s Vodka bottle to my cause, and my other friend Joey gave me an empty Jameson bottle under the condition that he gets the lamp when I am done. I now have more motivation to create a good final product as it will be gifted to my friend. 

Along with sourcing the bottles, I bought a glass drill bit and lamp kit on Amazon. I was able to drill holes in the bottles using the drill bit attached to my handheld electric drill. In order to ensure the bottle did not crack or overheat, I ran cold water over the bit during the drilling process. The hardest part of this process was getting the drill bit to bite the glass to tap the hole. I was able to avoid this problem by cutting a V-shape into a sponge and using it as a guide while coming in at an angle. Once the hole was tapped, I had to maintain adequate pressure while drilling at a medium rate. This was a fairly physical task that led to me having multiple painful hand cramps. Thankfully, the holes were tapped and came out fine.

As you can see from the pictures above, the Jameson bottle hole cracked a little since I began rushing the process to avoid hand cramps. However, it will still work fine and is not a major cutting hazard. The Tito’s hole came out much smoother since I took the proper amount of time drilling the hole. I took the lamp shade off of my current bedside lamp and attached it to the Tito’s bottle. It gives me a mid-century modern vibe that I enjoy. 

However, I have not yet achieved the speakeasy aesthetic I was going for. I plan on going to a thrift store and searching for a lampshade to pair with the Jameson bottle to achieve this aesthetic. In a perfect world, I would be able to find a dark red shade that matches the accent colors on the Jameson logo. I hope that I am able to find something like this at Goodwill. If I cannot find red, I will settle for a dark green or any other dim shade. 

The final step of my project is filling the bottles with some ornate material to cover the cord running through it. I plan on using some flat glass marbles from online or a pet store to cover the cord. These oblique glass beads are commonly used to fill the bottom of fish tanks. I think they will reflect the light from the bulb through the bottle and create neat patterns on the surface below the lamp. I should be able to complete all of this in the next week. 

Sources:

[1] “The Decorative Collection.” Go to The Decorative Collection., 2020, www.tdccordlesslighting.com/product/the-carlyle-2/.