Medicine Bottle Man (Desktop Organizer)

This Instructable will show you how to to make a figure out of medicine bottles and screws. This is useful for storing whatever desktop (or other items) you may have floating around, while looking cool/interesting at the same time.




(Always use knives with care. I am not responsible for any injury caused by knife using. Use at your own risk.)

- 6 medicine bottles and lids
- Sharpie (my preference, obviously any permanent marker will work)
- Knife
- Machine screws (smallest you can find)
- Screwdriver
- Pliers
- Paper clip

Figure out how you want your Medicine Bottle Man to look before you make the marks for where to put the screws. Then simply take your marker and make dots at the spots where you want the bottles to connect. Make sure the spots aren't too close to the bottoms, or you may not be able to get the nuts on the screws once you have them in there.

After you've made your marks, use your knife to poke them into holes (using a twisting motion), and stretching it out with the paper clip, until they're big enough to fit the screws in easily. You don't want the holes to be too tight or too loose, but just enough so that you can easily get the screws in without a screwdriver. Also, make sure you don't use to much force or you may end up slicing the bottle and having to start over. Remember to twist, not cut; and turn the knife point full circle so you won't end up with a half-moon hole, as the screws won't fit well in that.

This is the easiest part. Simply make your holes in the bottom of bottle A, and in the lid of bottle B. Use your screwdriver to put them together. Sorry for the blurry picture.

1. After you've made the holes, grab your screws with your pliers and use them to put the screw in the hole from the inside of your bottle. If you've made your holes the right size, it should go in fairly easily (though it shouldn't be too easy, or your finished project may not be very stable).
2. One you have the screw in bottle A, put it also through bottle B, then grab a nut and put it on. I found the easiest way to do this was to balance it on my finger, then line it up with the screw inside the bottle - it should go on pretty easily.
3. They should be tight enough, but if you think it needs to be tighter: use your screwdriver to hold the screw (using the side of the head of the screwdriver) while turning the nut with your finger, the pliers, or even twisting the bottle in the right direction. Don't over-tighten.

Once you have all the pieces together, he should be able to sit or stand easily. Fill him with whatever small things you have floating around, taking up space, etc. I used paper clips, binder clips, erasers, flash drives, pencil lead, and guitar picks. You can also put writing utensils in the head; but I only recommend doing that while he's sitting, or he may tip over.
Decorate however you want. Markers, stickers... or leave him plain.