Bottle Lamps

I thought I would start a series based on one of my most unique artworks, my bottle lamps.  I recently sold one of my favorites, and now the new owner is asking for a duplicate.  I am also thinking about making a nightlight for my son's room, so I thought that I would share my process of preparing a bottle for each of the lamp types on which I will be working.

But first, you should probably know where the idea for these lamps comes from, and also get a sample of what they look like.  I first thought of making a wine bottle light after a trip to the winery with some friends.  This particular winery has the prettiest blue bottles, and one of our friends asked me what I could do with it.  So I started to wonder, what exactly could I do with one of these bottles?  I thought it would be interesting to turn them into more of a lampshade so that you could replace them as you wanted instead of being stuck forever with one particular bottle or image.  From this idea, I designed my own style of wine bottle lamps.  Here are some samples.




Butterfly Coi.  My very first lamp.  This was given as a gift to my mother-in-law.  It is based on a fish I saw on a trip to Las Vegas. This is a clear bottle that has been completely painted.  My first base design had a light bulb sticking up into the bottle. 

Tulips. Based on my favorite flowers to draw. This is my second base design.  I moved to a battery operated puck light that the bottle can sit on.  It makes cutting the bottom of the bottle unnecessary.

This bottle was a gift for my Grandma who loves Cardinals.

Celtic Knots.  This came from my love of Celtic knot artwork.  My husband's family has a very strong Irish connection, so I designed this bottle with them in mind.

 
Coral Reef.  Probably my most detailed work. It took me over 30 hours to get this one right, and then the bottle developed a crack.  I was so upset!











 The peacock. This is the one I need to duplicate. It was one of my first ideas even though it was one of my later bottles. It is still my favorite.

Sunflowers.  This was a special order from a family member.  Her kitchen is decorated in sunflowers, so I made a lamp to match.  This one was photographed without its base.













These are just some of the ones that I have done.  There are a few more on my Etsy site, which you can get to by clicking on my logo at the top of the page.  Now you see what they can look like.  Next time, I'll start showing you how to prepare the bottles to make them.  Stay tuned....