Prime
Put those empty wine bottles to use
Empty wine bottles can be used as flower vases, candle holders, lamp shades and decor items, among other things. PHOTOS by Edgar R. Batte
What you need to know:
Creativity. There can never be anything such as many useless wine bottles. As long as you have a creative mind, you can put these bottles to a number of uses
People who drink wine often have many empty bottles and do not know how to put them to better use. But more can be done with these bottles as they can be transformed into useful, decorative objects in your home.
Harriet Kiiza an, environmentalist in Kampala, says: “It is great fun opening a new bottle of wine, but the good times do not have to end when you have finished the content.”
Kiiza explains that, there are inspiring ways to reuse glass bottles, as candle holders, flower vases, planters, wall décor and wedding décor, among other things. Wine bottles are one of the amazing materials that can be used in countless ways.
Peace Kobusinge, an interior designer at Patterned interior in Wakiso District, says these wine bottles come in different shapes, sizes and colour, and these different qualities make them multipurpose objects when it comes to re-purposing them.
Flower vase
Kobusinge notes that the first step to consider if you need to turn your wine bottles into decorations, is to empty them. An empty wine bottle can make a good flower vases even without decorating it, you only have to remove the paper label, if any.
Candle holders
Kobusinge says if you want to turn them into candle holders; “Soak the bottle, so that the labels loosen for easy removal. Then you can use a razor blade to remove the sticky residue (glue that was used to stick the labels).”
“After the labels have been removed, you can either seat your candle in the bottle opening or use a glass cutter, you can buy one from the shops that sell glass or seek help from a glass cutter to cut the bottom open and whenever you want to have an outdoor romantic diner, you use the bottle to shield the candle from the wind.”
Cover the bottle in crochet thread
She further states that to transform your wine bottle into a contemporary flower vase, consider using different size and shapes of bottles with various colours and textures of crochet yard thread to create a distinctive arrangement.
“Add a small strip of super glue to the top of the bottle and press the end of the thread into the glue so that it sticks firmly, begin to wrap the thread around the bottle making sure not to leave any gaps,” Kobusinge says, adding that, “when you get to the bottom of the neck, place a small strip of glue on the bottle and cut the yarn. Press the yarn into the glue, or you may choose to just paint these bottles and make some artistic drawing before fixing your flowers.
Wateriers
Kobusigye also says that wine bottles can be switched to self-watering planters for your home compound garden; these bottles provide an attractive method to keep your moisture-loving plants strong. You can make a simple waterier, filling a wine bottle with water, setting it next to your plants and running a cotton string from the water to the plant soil. The water will wick from the bottle to the soil.
AS DECOR
Place them in a corner
If you have different colours and shapes of wine bottles, you can place them on a shelf in a strategic corner in your living room. These will add beauty to your house.
Lamp shades
They can also be used as lamp shades. In this, you cut the bottom part of the bottle, put the lamp wire through the top and then fix the lamp holder, if they are not firm; you harness it with a soft metal wire then hang your bottle in a suitable place.
