Comments on: Looking for crafty suggestions for a huge glass bottle

Question: Looking for crafty suggestions for a huge glass bottle

primer_dimer — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:27:03 -0800

Looking for crafty suggestions for a big glass bottle

I've just scored a big glass bottle that was being thrown away at work. I think technically it's a tapped demijohn - it's a big cylindrical bottle about 12" across and about 20" high, with a bung at the bottom. It looks a bit like this but with the tap. It's previously been used to contain 10% ethanol.

What crafty thing should I do with it? I'd love to have something living in it to look at - maybe one of those moss terraria that are so popular at the moment? How about turning it into a micro fish tank, but with just plants and maybe snails - I'm pretty sure it's not big enough for fish. Is this easy to do? Could I just scoop up a load of mud and algae from a local pond, fill 'er up, and see what happens? Would I need one of those air bubbler things? As you can see I'm pretty clueless about all things aquatic...

By: Fairchild

Fairchild — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:00:42 -0800

This is a nice bottle. Since I know nothing about terrariums or fish tanks I would leave it be or group it with something else and display.

If you live close to the ocean, or river, you could collect one shell, or rock, each time you visit and place it in the bottle. See how long it takes you to fill the bottle.

By: Juliet Banana

Juliet Banana — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:16:45 -0800

I'd fill it with lots of something colorful; feathers, pom-poms, buttons, or sand. Maybe cheap candy or scary plastic fish in blue gel.

I have a friend who used his comically large mad scientist beaker to hold coins.

By: carbide

carbide — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:38:05 -0800

Not living, but it'd keep your hands busy for a while...how about filling it with origami paper cranes? (Here's a mini version on Flickr.) The colours'd be amazing, you'd get them done just by idly folding while watching movies or tv or listening to podcasts, and there's no risk of having to figure out how to clean mud out of it.

By: minervous

minervous — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:45:42 -0800

Lamp. Like mine.

(I re-used an old shade and got my cork & socket kit from here. You can find them cheaper, though. In retrospect, I spent too much. Heck, you could make it yourself.)

By: Science!

Science! — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:57:35 -0800

I asked a question a while ago about how to cut an oddly shaped glass bottle, hoping to remove the neck and turn it into a vase. I gave up on the idea and instead made a terrarium with dirt, moss, sticks, and whatever plants wanted to tag along when I pulled up the moss.

It looks a lot like this.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:08:18 -0800

Make your own infused vodka, put a cork in it, and give it as a gift (or just keep it around as your big-ol' jug o' booze)

By: bonobothegreat

bonobothegreat — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:36:12 -0800

Don't do the ecosystem thing. There are too many variables like how much light is enough without allowing it to stew on a widow ledge. You'd need a bubbler to keep it healthy and it would be impossible to clean to algae off the inside of the glass. If you want snails and plants, a fish tank is a better choice to start with.

By: jacquilinala

jacquilinala — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:54:45 -0800

I recently saw glass bottles filled with (stringed, small) christmas lights and thought they looked pretty cool. I think they were magnum-sized wine bottles.

By: anansi

anansi — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:32:24 -0800

You could use it as a terrarium.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/terrarium/
http://www.stormthecastle.com/terrarium/bottle-terrarium.htm
http://lifehacker.com/5170081/turn-a-wine-bottle-into-a-terrarium
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/133618/grow_a_bottle_garden_terrarium.html?cat=6

By: primer_dimer

primer_dimer — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:49:55 -0800

Thanks for all your suggestions; I have decided to go with a string of LEDs.