Hanging Bottle Lantern

In this Instructable, I will be showing you how to make a great decoration out of an old bottle and a few other materials. This is a very simple project that almost anyone could do and it requires no power tools. You could hang this lantern inside or outside since it is wind resistant and the flame is covered and safe. This entire project took me less than an hour to make and looks perfect as a decoration in our house.

For the lantern:

• An empty glass bottle
  • (Mine was 750 mL)
• A glass candle holder
  • (The top should be slightly wider than the bottom so that the chain will stay on)
• A thin chain
  • (A picture of the kind I used is above)
• Key chain ring
• A pliers that can cut the chain

To cut the glass:

• Acetone Alcohol (Primary ingredient in most nail polish removers)
• Yarn or similar string
• A lighter

The first thing you need to do is remove the bottom of your bottle. If you are unfamiliar with the method of cutting a glass bottle with string and nail polish remover, I will explain it briefly in this step.

First, wrap the yarn or string around the bottle about three times. Tie it tightly, and slip it off the end of the bottle. Soak the string in your nail polish remover and put it back around the bottle where you want it to be cut. light the string on fire and slowly turn the bottle so that the flame heats it evenly. Immediately after the flame has stopped, submerge the bottle into ice water. This should cause it to break cleanly. If not, repeat the process until it does.

You could use a different method to cut the glass, but I chose this one because it requires no power tools.

Wrap a chain around the middle section of the glass candle holder and cut it. Use the pliers to open up one link and attach it to the other end to create a loop. Now, make sure that this loop will not slip over the top of the glass cup but will support it in the middle. You should be able to pull it up to secure it.

NOTE: After I had cut the chains, I decided to paint them black because it looked better. If you plan to paint the chains, I would advise doing so before you start cutting and positioning them because it will be less difficult.

Next, cut three shorter equal lengths of chain. Space these apart evenly around the outside of the main support chain. Attach all three ends to the key ring and make sure that they are centered or your candle will hang crooked.

Finally, attach a doubled over chain to the top of the key ring. This will allow you to hang the lantern.

To hang the lantern, slip the doubled over chain through the neck of the bottle from the bottom. The key ring should be too large to fit through the neck which will support the bottle as it hangs. You should check that your chain on top is long enough to slide the bottle up past the candle holder. (See first picture.) This will allow you to easily put in a candle and light it. You could even adjust some of the chains without having to disassemble it.

I really hope that you have enjoyed this Instructable and have been inspired to make a decoration of your own. Please tell me below in the comments how this turned out for you. Feel free to ask any questions, and I'd be happy to answer them.

See you in my next Instructable!