Tag Archives: wine bottle waterer

W is for Wine Bottles, Wire Hangers and Waiting

Sorry to make you Wait.  Let’s just pretend it’s Wednesday since my Wednesday felt more like a Monday and my Week felt more like a month, Which in my Weird World makes this post right on time.  I’ve finally figured out the Wine Bottle Waterer.  It can be made from 100% recycled materials – Wine bottles (or vodka bottles as recommended by vodkaandgroundbeef) and Wire hangers.  

First, unscrew the top of the hanger.

Just hold the base of the hanger and pull the hook around.  It unwraps in seconds.  The hook, with a slight modification, will hold the neck of the bottle in place.  Either squeeze with your hands or use plyers to tighten the hook around the neck of the bottle.

Then you need to wrap the body of the bottle.  Follow the curve of the hanger.  One corner of the hanger will meet up with the bottom of the bottle.

From here, you’ll wrap the wire back up to the top of the bottle and thread the wire underneath where the original hook is around the neck.

Again, follow the curve of the hanger.  The opposite corner, pressed together, will form the stake.  And after the stake forms, the two squiggly pieces of wire will meet up again.  The wires will catch on each other at the squiggly parts; use the pliers to twist the end and secure in place.    

That’s it, but here are a couple tips I learned along the way: Save your cork.  It’s much easier to control the water flow by poking holes in the cork than by measuring out marbles.  Although the marbles make a clear bottle look much prettier.  The second tip is to buy Lucky Duck chardonnay.  It only costs about $4 at Walmart, and when you flip the bottle upside down, the lucky duck turns right side up!

Update

The wine bottle waterer from a wire hanger is still a work in progress…

I didn’t photograph the broken glass on the back patio – oops!  But it’s soooooo close; a final prototype should be posted soon.  First I need to pick up my dry cleaning.

Wine Bottle Waterer

Last night’s empty bottle of Malbec and my mother’s obsessive crafting have inspired me!  The Irish sprinkler system, first discovered when my sister lived and blogged from Ireland for a yearhas been upgraded again. This time with the help of two small items - glass marbles and wire from a hanging candle holder.

As I stood over the sink rinsing out the wine bottle, I started to channel my mother, the MacGyver of marbles.  In the first year after discovering flat-backed marbles, she Gooped them onto everything within a ten-foot radius - mirrors, frames, hot plates, napkin holders, you name it, it’s now covered in marbles.  Anyway, it dawned on me that marbles solved my earlier problem of making the plastic bottle look prettier; why couldn’t they solve this problem too?  So I started shoving them down the bottle neck one by one and voila!

It may take a few tries to get the marbles positioned properly, so make sure to place the tip of your finger into the neck before flipping the bottle upside down.  Then add or subtract marbles to get the drip right; my bottle is a little less than a quarter full.  Positioning the marbles was easy; positioning the bottle got a little tricky.  If you push the bottle into the soil, the soil clogs the neck.  If you tilt the bottle on its side, you have to jiggle it every once in a while to keep the water flowing.  Fortunately for me, I’m a bit of a craft hoarder and was able to pull the wire candle holder straight out of my cabinet.  For those of you non-hoarders, a wire hanger would probably work.  I’ll try it over the weekend and let you know.  Whatever you choose, the point is to keep the bottle slightly elevated above the soil.  I wedged the wire into the side of the pot to provide some stability. 

Here’s the final product, and it works great!  The Plumbago is now as perky as I am after a bottle of wine!