Our Wedding Centerpeices- Cutting the Wine Bottles

Hello to all!

In the next series of blog posts, I'd like to share how I made the centerpieces for our wedding.

A picture taken by Tina before the festivities began

First, lets break down the different elements involved in these centerpieces:

• 1 whole clear wine bottle
• 1 green cut wine bottle
• 1 dark cut wine bottle
• Birch table number pillar
• 4 tea lights and votive holder
• White ribbon
• Yellow ribbon
• 1 floating candle
• Clear glass rocks
• Fake babies breath flowers
• 1 real hydrangea stem
• Wooden plaque
• Water

Well, quite a list! That can be a little overwhelming to start, but it's really just some wine bottles, candles, ribbon and wood. Lets talk about cutting those wine bottles. 

We knew we wanted to use wine bottles for a while, so we started saving them early. Eventually, I ended up with a couple boxes of bottles that looked like this:

A lot of hard work from good friends went into these bottles. Grandma really liked those green carpets...

At this step (which is step negative 1 essentially), you can encounter 2 problems:

1. Oops, forgot to rinse this one out thoroughly! I think we've created a new ecosystem in here!
2. ZOMG LABEL GLUE EVERYWHERE!

WARNING: If you are embarking on this adventure, don't be attached to your fingernails. 

The best way to eliminate residue and mold on the inside is to let water and either bleach or simple green sit in the bottle over night. Sometimes you need to rinse and repeat this process. Because we are not drinking out of these bottles, I didn't have a problem using these strong chemicals.

The best way to remove labels is as follows: Go to your local home improvement store and buy one of those big buckets for $5. Fill your wine bottles with water, and place them in the bucket. Then, fill the bucket up with very very hot water. Let those bottles sit and think for about 15-20 minutes. 

Next comes the scraping. I used the side of a ruler, an exacto knife, Goo Gone, and a Scotch Bright sponge scrubber. You don't want to use steel wool, or any other substance that would scratch the glass. You will encounter different types of labels and glues that can, and will, make this process tedious. The water based glues and paper labels will be your friend. Oiled based glues and plastic labels will make you resort to drinking. If you encounter those bottles, I highly recommend just not using the bottle. It is NOT worth your time or energy. The internet is full of ways to get oil based glue off bottles, and none of them work. Just use a different bottle.

I will say, you can buy unlabeled wine bottles all over the place. But the idea here is that we are trying to save money. If you have the money to spend, go ahead. If not, KEEP DRINKING! ;)

So now that we have clean, dry, non-labeled bottles, it is time to cut them. This process will take you forever if you are doing it right. I read Deathly Hallows twice in the time it took me cut these bottles.

You will find quick ways to cut bottles all over the internet. And they may work if you're looking for a quick weekend project to make a bird feeder or something. But this is a centerpiece for your wedding. We are looking for clean, straight glass breaks. That is why this process takes a while.

HOW TO CUT A WINE BOTTLE:

First, go buy this handy tool! It's the best $20 you'll ever spend. This thing WORKS. Hubby made a few alterations to make the cutter head stay in the correct spot, but you will get a feel for it once you start working.

Prep your workstation

I would suggest doing this in your kitchen, as there is a LOT of water involved. Hopefully you have a double sink, as that makes the process a lot easier, too. You will need the following supplies:

1. Two of those large buckets from your home improvement store.
2. Bagged Ice
3. Salt
4. Large pots for boiling water
5. A second set of hands
6. A covered countertop space
7. Fine grit wet sandpaper
8. Long tongs
9. Distraction (good book, tablet, glass of wine, phone, magazines etc)
10. A chair/stool/comfortable thing to sit on
11. Timer

You will have the boiling water in 1 bucket, and the freezing water in the other bucket. A little chemistry: we mix the salt with cold water and add ice. This allows the water to get below 32 degrees without freezing.

This is where you want the second set of hands. As the boiling water cools, and the cold water warms, you need someone to keep boiling fresh water and adding salt and ice to your cold water.  

Score the bottles

The wine bottle cutter only scores the glass, it doesn't cut straight through. Follow the directions on the wine bottle cutter! Only go around the glass once, and make sure the score meets itself after 1 rotation. This is where you want a covered work space: After you score the bottle, small glass shards of glass literally POP off the bottle. You don't want glass flakes all over your counter top, I promise. 

To make sure all the scores were the same height, I lined the bottles up next to each other. I then took a piece of blue painters tape to mark where I wanted to score to go. Because the bottles themselves were different shapes and sizes, I had to readjust the cutter for each bottle. 

Separate the bottles at the score

There are a few tricks here to make you successful with doing this. I will underline them for emphasis.

First, dip a bottle in the boiling hot water up to the score line (not past the line; to the score line. Also, the bottle needs to be level in the water). You will have to hold the bottle to make sure it says in this position. Set the timer for 3-5 minutes.  You want that glass nice and hot. Don't rush this! 

When your 3-5 minutes is up, quickly dunk the bottle into the ice cold water up to the score line. You will continue to hold the bottle in this position for another 3-5 minutes. Again, don't rush!

After 3-5 minutes in a cold bath, put the bottle back in the hot water. Another 3-5 minutes up to the score line.

And finally, back into the cold bath. If all goes as planned, the top should pop off your bottle in the cold water. Don't stick your hand in there, that water's freakin cold! Use your tongs to remove the top. 

If it doesn't pop off yet, just keep dunking back and forth. Some glass is thicker than others. Also, double check the temp of your water, if they've cooled or warmed, you may need to refresh some of the water. You should see the crack forming along the score line on your bottle. Don't tap it! This will result in an unclean break.

We had 10 tables. So 10 short cut bottles, 10 medium cut bottles. That means cutting 20 bottles. Actually, that means having 20 usable bottles. About 1 in 3 will not break clean (this isn't an exact science), I had to dunk 30 or so bottles. Hence, Deathly Hallows. Twice.

Tada!! Did I mention we bought Grandma's house? You should see the linoleum... 

Sand the bottles

Your bottles will be sharp where they broke. And your bottles will be wet. Take the fine grit sand paper to your bottles until they are smooth to the touch. Be careful determining if they are smooth. I don't want you blaming me for blood and gore.

Now you are ready to start assembling! Sounds like a great idea for a second blog post, don'tchathink? :)

Welcome to my craft room. Try not to get lost in the 70s decor.