Sunday, December 14, 2014



 
Drill holes in glass blocks or wine bottle with diamond drill bits with a hand held drill motor.

Before you start to drill the hole you should use some Silly Putty to form a donut. Place the donut over the spot where you want to drill the hole. On a glass block I find a place just off the center line where the two halves of the block are joined. Fill the donut hole with water... During the cutting process the bit will begin to heat up. Make sure the hole in the donut is full of water. Have a little cup of water nearby in case you need to add a little water. Place your wine bottle or glass block on old towel and position between your feet on a hard cement floor. See if you can start drilling by tipping the drill bit a little on its edge you will have to apply a little pressure to get your drill bit to starting cutting. Once it start to cut you can than bring it straight up Remember; Diamond coated drill bits can heat up very quickly. Pump your drill up and down every few seconds. Drilling the hole will take a few minutes because it is difficult to drill through thick glass. Glass blocks are manufactured with a slight vacuum inside. You will often hear a slight hiss when the drill bit breaks through. Wash the glass block inside and out to get the glass dust out of the block. Let it dry before you start to decorate. Remember you don’t need a lot of downward pressure. Set your drill motor at low speed. To learn more about drilling glass block or wine bottle go to google search.
 

directions for making a bottle lamp


 

Directions for making your Bottle Lamp

 

 Drill hole in bottle using 3/8” Diamond drill bit. (for Deco Teeny,teeny bulbs)

 Rinse bottle and dry thoroughly

 Place plastic snap-in grommet on lamp cord.

 Feed lamp cord through drilled hole towards bottle neck. Push plastic grommet in drilled hole.

 Pull cord approx. 15” past top of bottle and tie a knot in cord. Pull cord back            through bottle until knot is about 1 inch from grommet inside bottle. You should have approx. 2” of wire at top of bottle.

Insert Deco Teeny,Teeny bulbs through top of bottle. Terminal end down. Cut end should extend about 2” from top of bottle.

Carefully feed lamp cord wires and Deco lights wires through threaded nipple/adapter.

Carefully insert nipple/rubber adapter into bottle .Bottle adapter should be flush with top of bottle. Check to see if rubber adapter fits firmly in neck of bottle.  If too lose you will have to compress the adaptor to enlarge it. Hold the bottom nut with a wrench and tighten down top nut. It should not fit supper tight as you may have to take it out if it is not a good fit.

Again, Feed lamp cord and light wires through nipple/adapter and now insert into bottle. If a little tight add a few drops of soap. If using a harp  place it  on top of brass check  ring, add hex nut and  Tighten.

Run lamp cord and light wires through socket base and screw on to nipple.

Wiring the 3 terminal socket.  The ribbed wire from the lamp cord is connected to the Brass screw, the other lamp cord wire and one Deco  light wire are connected to the silver  screw, and the other Deco  light wire is connected to the black screw. (Make   sure all wires are secured). Carefully slide socket shell over socket base and  click into place.

Use a 15 watt max. Bulb. (Insert socket reducer if using a candelabra type bulb).

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Note: we do not assume or imply any responsibility for the proper assembly or use of this product.
www.makeawinebottlelamp.com

Saturday, December 13, 2014

$125.00 dollar whiskey bottle lamps


 

$125.00 whiskey bottle lamp

 

$125.00 was the lowest price I seen for a BayRum whiskey bottle lamp. The top price was $149.00 for a similar bottle lamp. Where was this?

 

Several weeks ago I attended a Tampa Bay area outdoor Art show. This was not an Arts & Craft Show that we are all familiar with. This was a rather high end juried Art show with lots of jewelry, Paintings, etc.. I would guess that there were about a 100 or more artist displaying their art work. The one booth that caught my eye was an artist displaying Lighted Whiskey Bottle Lamps. I could not believe the price she was asking for her Whiskey Bottle Lamps. Most often lighted wine or whiskey bottle lamps sell between $25.00 and $40.00. Keep in mind that this was a juried show with small rental space at $450.00 for the two day weekend show.

I spoke briefly with the artist. She was pleased with the show and said that she had sold eight whiskey bottle lamps. She sold only whiskey bottle lamp and did not show any wine lighted wine bottles.

What made here whiskey bottle lamps so attractive was that they were mounted on top of wooden cigar boxes. The cigar boxes made an eye catching solid base for here lamps. The lamp shade often would complement the color on the cigar box label. The lamp socket was a push threw 3-way light socket. A white lamp cord went up from the cigar box to the socket. Her lamps had not additional decorations on them.

I enjoyed visiting for a short time with the whiskey bottle lamp artist and was impressed with here work.

 

 

 

 

 
www.lightedwinebottlemaking.com

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Mini diamond drill bits for sea glass


 

Mini Diamond TWIST drill bits vs Mini diamond SOLID core  bits

 

Over the last several years that I have been selling mini diamond drill bits to Creative Jewelry designers I have found that the diamond twist bits are just a tad more popular than the solid core bits. Your favorite type would more likely depend upon the kind of material you are drilling. The thickness and the hardness of the material you are drilling would influence the type of diamond drill bits that would work best for you. It’s a good idea to try both types to see which ones last longer and gives you a nice clean hole. Sea glass is often much harder than beach stones or pottery shards to drill.

Mini diamond TWIST drill bits work much like an auger. This type of drill bit will lift the fine silicon dust out of the hole as you drill. You should still lift the mini bit out of the hole just a tad as you drill. A touch n’ go technique is recommended. The thicker the piece of material you are working with the more I would suggest using the twist diamond drill bits.

The mini diamond solid core bits have very fine diamond segmentations at the very tip of the drill bit. This gives you a little less diamond cutting surface. When using  solid core diamond bits you need to lift the drill bit out of the hole every few seconds to clear out the glass dust and to keep water in the hole. Solid core mini diamond drill bits will usually have a longer shank with just the tip doing the work. The shank size is usually the same size as the diamond drill bits. I always insert the shank as far up into the collet that I can.  You want just enough of the tip to penetrate the thickness of the material you are working with. These needle thin mini drill bits can bend or break very easy.   I just cut away the bent shank and continue to use.

As a general rule the thicker the material the slower speed you would want to use.. I find that the middle setting on my Dremel rotary drill motor works just fine.

 

 

 

 

 
www.lightedwinebottlemaking.com