The Crafty Old Bottler
The only crafting site where making the raw material is more enjoyable than the craft itself!
Glass Bottle Crafts & Uses
Nearing retirement age and the prospect of having a bit more time on my hands, it dawned on me that I was going to struggle to keep myself entertained with all the extra time coming my way. I have no artistic talent whatsoever and have never had the patience to perform any type of craft.
I would say I did already have 2 hobbies – doing nothing and going to the pub. Something had to change as it wasn’t practical or healthy to invest too much more time and money in these hobbies. So I asked myself the following questions:
What are you good at?
This question was tougher than I thought it would be to answer. Not much it would appear!
Don’t get me wrong, it turns out I am pretty good at a number of things but I wouldn’t call myself an expert at anything in particular. I would describe myself as a Jack Of All Trades, a master bodger, a MacGyver of sorts I suppose, knocking something up that solves an immediate problem, requirement or desire, with what I have available, rather than an absolute work of art in a few weeks time!
Not having a natural talent to develop in anything, it was obvious that the new project had to be related in some way to an activity that I already enjoyed. An activity where attention to detail was an optional extra, and perhaps something I might get better at with time.
What do you enjoy doing?
I won’t bore you with a list of things I don’t enjoy doing as it will be extremely long, so we’ll stick with what I enjoy. So, in no particular order:
- Playing darts – I enjoy darts night at the pub but I’m no Luke Littler so we’ll keep that career for another day.
- Going on holiday – if I could get paid to be on holiday full-time this would be ideal but probably a non-starter.
- Canoeing – a new pastime to me but I’ll probably only get on the water half a dozen times a year – one for the future perhaps!
- Camping – I like camping but I don’t want to go camping every week or operate a campsite.
- Bonfires – who doesn’t love a bonfire, probably one of the most therapeutic things to do but the neighbours won’t appreciate a daily bonfire, so we’ll stick to combining that one with the camping trips.
- Watching football – Enjoy maybe the wrong word for this as very often this involves disappointment.
- Drinking beer – An interesting one this as when I play darts I drink beer, when I go on holiday I drink beer, when I go canoeing I drink beer, when I go camping I drink beer, when I have a bonfire I drink beer, when I watch football I drink beer. Finally, I seem to be onto something!
If beer is the answer what is the question?
Q. Can I generate even more opportunities to drink beer?
A. Probably.
Q. Should I generate even more opportunities to drink beer?
A. Probably not.
Q. What happens after you’ve drunk beer?
A1. More beer.
A2. Darts get better then worse.
A3. Empty bottles.
Eureka! Empty Bottles
A trip to the bottle bank with a car-boot full of bottles has always been a fun activity in itself, but this is an irregular event determined by when I can no longer move freely through the garage. With such a stockpile of bottles, not just beer bottles I might add, as vodka bottles, wine bottles, soft drinks bottles and the odd jar also feature!
So the question became, what can be done with those glass vessels rather than smashing them up at the bottle bank. And the answer was – so many things! As and when I attempt different glass bottle crafts I will showcase the results and processes here, good and bad!
Glass Bottle Crafts Attempted So Far