"Deconstructing" Bottles

Miss Ginger finds the most clever "up-cycles" to be ones where the original material is hard to identify.  She loves when people say to her "what in the world did you use to make that?!"  Often, materials can be totally deconstructed, and used to create something entirely different.  Case in point:  glass bottles.

The potential for bottle parts goes beyond cutting the top off to make a "glass".  If you take that glass and cut the bottom off, you now have a glass "tube".  Cut the tube in sections, and you have "rings".  The possibilities are endless!

All of that cutting is impossible to do with the ineffective "acetone and string" method, and really tedious with a G2 cutter. This job calls for power tools!  

You could rent a big tile saw at the local tool rental, but honestly, this great little saw from Lowe's will cut glass like butter, and only takes up about a square foot of storage space.  Plus, it's only $89 bucks.... I'm not sure you could rent one for less!

Disclaimer: this product is not designed to cut glass.  Miss Ginger Grant, her affiliates, friends, fans, and acquaintances make no claims for the worthiness of this product for the task at hand. Proceed at your own risk!

That said, Miss Ginger has cut many, many bottles with hers, and has cut herself never.  The blade is rough, not sharp, and it has no teeth, so even if you were to accidentally brush against it, you'd get an abrasion, not a cut.  Still, one should wear gloves, and definitely protective eyewear, when working with any power tool.  And earplugs. It's a tad noisy.

Also, you will definitely want to work outdoors, and cover nearby surfaces with plastic sheeting.  The saw uses water to keep the blade and bottle cool, and it slings quite a bit of water mixed with super-fine glass dust that will leave a white film anywhere it dries. 

Using the tile saw, Miss Ginger was able to rip a huge pile of S. Pellegrino bottles into these components:

The top of the bottle creates a little funnel.  She has several ideas for how to use those. The middle row, the 3 "tiles", are what she will use first, to create an outdoor chandelier for an upcoming post.  She also saved the round bottoms, and is tossing around several ideas for those, as well.

Keep watching, dear GingerSnaps, for the Deconstructed Bottle Chandelier!