Nowadays, many people in Florida collect wines as a hobby and like to pick their favorite vintage from their custom wine cellar anytime. There are a number of wine collectors we know in Miami who also want to be environmentally-friendly, so after a dinner with family and friends, they decided to collect empty wine bottles and turn them into decorative items. This is to help minimize landfill waste, thus helping save our planet Earth, not to mention the state of Florida.
Empty wine bottles are considered versatile materials for making decorative pieces because of their unique shapes, array of colors and sleek curves. There are many ways to help wine bottles live on. One of these is to recycle them into crafts that can improve or beautify your garden or yard.
Bottle Trees
Trees with wine bottles instead of leaves are popular as garden art. Bottle trees are believed to capture evil spirits at night and keep them from entering the house. This is why they are called spirit trees. According to the folklore, blue bottles are known to attract evil spirits the most.
You can use an existing tree in your garden. Make sure that you choose one with many branches on it to hold your chosen wine bottles. For a rustic look, you need to look for a small, natural tree. After choosing your tree, determine the number of wine bottles that you will need. Before using the bottles, you need to wash them and remove the labels and glue.
It is important to use your imagination to create an impressive wine bottle tree for your garden. You can use wine bottles with the same hues or color but differ in sizes or shapes. If you want a colorful bottle tree, you must collect wine bottles with color variations. You can even add light bulbs to brighten up your yard.
Garden Edging
Another green way to beautify your garden or yard is to use wine bottles as edging or border. The sturdiness of wine bottles (especially the bottoms) makes them ideal for this recycling project.
All you need to do is dig a small trench around the area you want to edge to accommodate the clean bottles. Place the bottles in the trench neck down. Don’t forget to pack soil tightly on both the front and back sides of the bottles.
You can use all sorts of wine bottles for your edging but if you want a more impressive look in your garden or yard, it is recommended that you create a pattern by color.
Wine Bottle Tiki Torch
Tiki torches can provide a nice ambiance to your yard. Instead of spending money to buy them from a store, why not collect some empty wine bottles and recycle them into an awesome garden craft?
Wine bottle tiki torches are easy to make. Gather some bottles you want to use for your tiki torch. Colored bottles look more elegant. You will need materials such as tiki torch replacement wicks, threaded seal tape (1/2 inch in size) and copper coupling (1/2 inch x 3/8 inch).
The first thing to do is to wrap the larger end of the coupling with the tape until it fits snugly in the wine bottle opening. Then, press the copper coupling into the bottle opening. If it fits snugly, remove the coupling and slide in the wick and let a ¼-inch of it stick out.
Put citronella oil into the bottle just enough to cover 2-3 inches of the wick’s bottom. Let the oil absorb into the wick before lighting it up. In addition to adding a festive touch to your yard, wine bottle tiki torches keep bugs and mosquitoes away.
There is no doubt why many Florida wine enthusiasts love to collect wine bottles after drinking a vintage from their residential wine cellar. They don’t want to just enjoy wines, but the benefits of recycling wine bottles as well.