Diy Liquor Bottle Lamp

The hardest part of this project is drilling the hole in the glass. Liquor bottle have thick glass, and there is the possibility of cracking or breaking your bottle. You can skip this step, and run your wire through the socket cap and let in dangle in the back of your lamp. But if you’re like me and think it just looks better to have the wire run through the lamp and out the bottom, read on.
The first thing you need to do is decide where to drill your hole. Find a place near the bottom of your lamp (in the back) that is smooth glass, without any raised or depressed areas. Make a dot on a piece of masking tape and place that where you want your hole to be. The masking tape will help keep your bit in place as you begin drilling.
Now, prep your bottle. Cut your paper slightly larger than your labels. Tape it over the labels, then wrap electrical or duct tape around the bottle several times. This will keep your labels dry when you are drilling the hole, and keep glass from flying if you break the bottle.
Place a few towels on your baking sheet. Put your bottle hole side up and tape tightly to the baking sheet to keep it in place. Put the bottle and sheet in the bottom of the sink.
Put on your safety goggles. Position your drill bit straight over the hole mark and begin drilling. Go slow! Don’t use full power or press down too hard. Take your time, and every minute or so spray the hole and the tip of your bit with cold water. This helps to cool down the bit and lubricate the hole. Using the glass/tile bit, I had a hole in my bottle in less than 15 minutes.
Now that you’ve drilled the hole, peel of the tape and dry your bottle. Make sure it is completely dry! Electricity + water=very very bad. I used a hair dryer
Now put the grommet in that lovely hole you just made. This is the 2nd hardest part. It takes some pushing and squeezing to get it in there. Keep going and try not to push it through all the way. Eventually, it will settle into place. Thread the wire through the grommet, bottle and out of the neck.
Pick the adapter that fits tightly into your bottle opening (in my case, none of them did, so I picked the closest one and wrapped electrical tape around it until it fit). Thread the nipple into the adapter until only 1/4″ remains showing above the lock nut.
Run the wire through the nipple and adapter and push the adapter into the neck of the bottle.
Slide check ring onto nipple. Thread wire through middle hole in socket cap. Screw the socket cap onto the nipple tightly.
Pull more wire through the socket cap and separate the 2 strands. Tie an underwriter’s knot. Do this by making two loops, one strand crossing in the back and one in the front. Pass ends of strands through loops and pull to close the loops. Adjust knot so only a small length of wire is left after tightening the knots(less than I did in the picture!).
Now look closely at your wires. One has ribbing. This wire is the neutral conductor.
Attach the neutral conductor to the silver screw ( I am using the Westinghouse lamp kit. If you have a different brand that tells you something else, follow their instructions). Wrap the exposed end of the wire around the screw post on the socket interior and screw tightly. Don’t have any uncoated wire exposed. Repeat with the other wire and the other screw. I taped over my wires and screws with electrical tape to be extra careful. Slide the socket shell over the socket interior.
If you have a lot of extra wire like I do, feed it back through the socket cap and adapter. Snap the socket shell into the cap until you hear a “click”. Now plug it in, screw in a lightbulb and give it a try. Light! *Please remember: anything electrical does have the possibility to kill you. So be careful. If electrical work makes you nervous, ask a friend who’s done it before for help. Use common sense, and if my instructions are different than the ones on your lamp kit, follow theirs. I am not responsible for any mishaps.