Wine Bottle Hanging Lamp

So after seeing lots of pics of pallets and wine bottles re-purposed all over etsy and pinterest, I decided to combine the two and create a hanging lamp.  The main structure is crafted from an old shipping pallet and the globes are obviously wine bottles.  Unfurtunately, I did not take as many pics of the process as I would have liked, but i will provide what I have.

First, I found a pallet at a local electrical supply store that had enough decent wood to work with.  There are many methods for tearing down a pallet, but i like to take a sawzall down each side and cut the nails.  Then I punch all the nails out with a punch.  I have found that if i try to pry the boards off, I usually break them.  I selected four boards that were workable.  I then cut the pieces that all the boards would be nailed to.  All the pieces then got sanded and stained.  My pallet had info branded into the beams, so I intentionally used the branded section for the ends.

After the stain dried, I began screwing the beams to the boards.  I used three pieces of the beams.  One on each end and one in the middle for support.

A lot of the wood was far from perfect, bit the imperfections give the project a weathered look.

 I drilled a one inch hole in the center beam for wiring purposes.  This gives a better idea of how the box is assembled.

 Next, I measured and drilled six holes in the bottom for the wires that will suspend the wine bottles.

 I am really going to glaze over the making of the wine bottle globes.  There is a ton of info online for cutting glass bottles.  The method I have chosen is using a jig from Generation Green to score the glass. 

After scoring all your bottles, prepare a bath of ice water and a bath of boiling water. 

 Dip the bottle in the boiling water till the water is just above the score line.  Allow it to heat up about 10 seconds.

Remove the bottle from the boiling water and place it in the cold water, making sure to just cover the score line.  Give it about 10 to 15 seconds in the cold water.  If the bottle doesnt start to fracture (it probably will not just yet), put it back in the boiling water and repeat the process.  Go back and forth untill the bottle starts to fracture (you will hear it).

When you do the above steps correctly, the bottom of the bottle will just drop off and leave a clean edge.

I polished the bottoms up with my palm sander.  This removed any sharp edges and gave the cut edge a rougher look.

I selected 6 bottles that were pretty similar. Other people might like to use bottles of different colors, but for project, I wanted similar bottles.  I cleaned up all the labels with goo gone.

Next, I ran a piece of 3 wire extension cord into each hole I drilled into the bottom of the box.  Each cord is about a foot and a half long.  I tied a knot in each cord to support the bottle and prevent the cord from pulling out of the box.  I did not get pictures of attaching the wires to the bulb sockets, but I just tied a UL knot on each socket and wired it up.  I wired up all the electrics and ran a 12 ft piece of gold colored lamp cord wire to snake up the swag chain.  After wiring it up, just screw the top board on top (dont forget to put a small hole to accommodate the lamp cord wire).
 

After installing 4 swag hooks to the top of the box, I now screwed it fast to the top of the box.  You can use two swag hooks if you like, but I liked the look of four.

 I had to try it out before installation.  I knew from the start that this had to have edison bulbs in it. I was quite relieved when everything lit up and no sparks.

Here it is!  The light was a gift for my sister and her new husband for their wedding.  There was no lighting above their counter top, so that is where it went.  Unfortunately, a bulb got damaged while installing the light (edison bulbs have very large filaments and seem to damage easy).