Wine Bottle | Solar Lights

Turn an empty wine bottle into a radiant nighttime accent with this ingenious solar-powered craft. Gail from My Repurposed Life combines the elegance of repurposing with the simplicity of solar lighting: just clean off the label, nestle in a solar fairy light topper, and you’ve got an automatic, wire-free lantern that charges by day and glows by night. Perfect for garden paths, patio tables, or al fresco entertaining, this project delivers beautiful, eco-conscious lighting with minimal effort and expense.

It doesn’t get any easier than this wine bottle with solar lights. This is my contribution for our monthly Thrift Store Decor Project. Surely you can find wine bottles at thrift stores, right? I have a funny story about this wine bottle . . .

During my first year camping, I went to Patoka Lake, Indiana, with friends. We had spent the afternoon at the beach with the dogs and were a hot mess. On the way back to the campsite, we stopped off at the winery. Between the three of us, we couldn’t come up with much money, and nobody had a credit or debit card on them. The friends went inside to “shop” while I stayed in the car with the pups. I don’t drink, and if I did, I’m sure it wouldn’t be wine! The bartender felt so bad for the ladies that she ended up giving them a couple of wine glasses and opened the bottle for them because we didn’t have a corkscrew back in the camper.

So, I’ve been holding on to the bottle for the last couple of years. As I was looking for a project, this wine bottle was the easiest to grab. Do you know that blue has always been my favorite color?

When you finish checking out this project, be sure to visit my blog friends to see what they’ve been up to.

How to Remove Wine Bottle Labels

To easily remove the labels on wine bottles, warm them in a 350° oven for about 10 minutes.

I chose to put mine on a baking tray.

While the bottle is still warm, use a flat spatula to pry off the label.

After using hot water and a little Goo Gone, a small amount of sticky residue remained. I reached for a sanding sponge, and it worked great to remove any remaining residue.

Wine Bottle Solar Lights

Not really having a plan, I used some craft wire to fashion a handle. I thought it might be better to hang the solar light wine bottle than rest it on a table. Beside the bottle, you can see the small fairy solar lights that fit the wine bottle. The little rubberized piece is to make it watertight.

Initially, I put the piece over the solar light, but when I placed it in the bottle, too much of the gasket was visible. Find the wine bottle solar lights on Amazon.

Since I didn’t like it being so visible, I placed the gasket in the bottle as shown. Then I worked the solar light “cork” into it nice and tight.

I like the way the wire looks around the neck of the solar light wine bottle, but I’m not so wild about how the wire handle looks. These fairy lights feature an on/off switch and charge well on my covered patio. They don’t necessarily need direct sunlight to charge.

So, on to plan B. I removed the wire and reinstalled the wine bottle solar lights.

Arrange Fairy Lights with Wooden Stick or Skewer

To position the lights in the wine bottle, I used a twig to arrange them more effectively. You could use a chopstick or a wooden skewer to do this.

I love the solar lights for outdoors, but if you want to do this indoors, you may want to use battery operated lights for wine bottles.

Wine Bottle Solar Lights Perfect for Weddings

I made this beer bottle solar light project several weeks ago. It’s the one sitting on my patio table that allows me to see how easily these lights charge. To get the lights to light up, I cut a dark-colored piece of paper and placed it on top of them. That’s good to know, in case you want to use these indoors at a wedding or other celebration where the lighting may not be suitable for them to come on.

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