Diy: Easy Ways To Cut Glass Bottles - Recyclart

I love colored glass bottles and have recycled them for years. Last day, I was looking for an easy way to cut glass bottles, a way that I could do without fancy tools in order to reuse them into other projects.

Of course, I never imagined that the solution was simply acetone and it is so simple!

IMPORTANT: PLEASE be very careful if you try this technique, AND take all necessary safety precautions! Any type of glass cutting has risks – always follow the manufacturer’s guidelines, as well as the suggestions in the video tutorials.

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Table of Contents

Materials needed to cut glass bottles:

• Some cotton twine/string
• 1 Glass bottle (the thinner the walls of the glass bottle, the better)
• Acetone (Most commonly found in nail polish remover, but also in the paint section at your local home centers or here on Amazon)
• Scissors
• Some form of abrasive paper (I used an emery board)
• The sink filled with cold water (The colder, the better. I used ice, which helped to have cold water)
• Igniting source, such as a long BBQ lighter

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Step-by-step instructions to cut glass bottles:

1. Wrap 5 or 6 times the cotton string around the bottle
2. Tie and cut loose ends of the cotton string
3. Remove the cotton string and soak it in acetone
4. Slide back the cotton string onto the bottle where you want it to break
5. Light cotton string on fire
6. Turn the bottle continuously to burn the cotton string evenly
7. Keep the glass bottle bottom tilted up to trap hot air inside the bottle
8. IMPORTANT: don’t breathe the gases and don’t catch anything else on fire. Do it above a sink like in the video.
9. When the flame starts to go out, plunge the glass bottle into cold water
10. Optional: It’s a good idea to sand the broken edge of the bottle in order to avoid any injuries.
11. Voila

Watch the videos below to see how to easily cut glass bottles:

As you’ve seen in this tutorial, cutting a glass bottle is a rather simple process, we highly recommend to sand the edge of the bottle with an emery board or sandpaper to prevent any injuries.

What you can create with cut glass bottles:

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Here are some ideas about what you can create with them:

• Fantastic candlesticks that you can use to decorate your home, patio, terrace, indoors or outdoors for unique party decor! (Learn how to build a chandelier Christmas garlands)
• Amazing chandeliers – cut the bottom of a glass bottle and fasten it to a piece of wood or metal, or suspend them with a DIY chandelier light kits. (Learn how to build a light sculpture using wood from crates)
• Lights – just cut the bottom of the bottle, pass through the electrical cords and pieces to hold the bottle in place, secure, and adjust to different lengths.
• A table lamp with larger decorative glass bottles. To build it, remove the lower part to pass the cable and adjust a cloth hat in the neck of the bottle.

But don’t stop there! Do the same with antique glass decanters that you can find at used stores and even yard sales. Create this budget-friendly, romantic, and stunning chandelier for less than $40. You can also construct an old fan following the instructions found in the suspension or found here: chains like.

Want other ways to cut glass bottles? There are several other techniques to cut glass bottles (with a flame, with boiling water, etc…), but the one presented here with the cotton twine and acetone has been the safest and fastest for us!

Other useful resources:

• This tutorial on Instructables: How to Cut a Bottle With String and Nail Polish Remover!
• In case you need to see other techniques, check out this Wikihow Page.
• For more inspiration, see some great Pinterest results!

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