I love colored glass bottles and have recycled them for years. Last day, I was looking for an easy way to cut glass bottles, a way that I could do without fancy tools in order to reuse them into other projects.
Of course, I never imagined that the solution was simply acetone and it is so simple!
IMPORTANT: PLEASE be very careful if you try this technique, AND take all necessary safety precautions! Any type of glass cutting has risks – always follow the manufacturer’s guidelines, as well as the suggestions in the video tutorials.
Table of Contents
Materials needed to cut glass bottles:
- Some cotton twine/string
- 1 Glass bottle (the thinner the walls of the glass bottle, the better)
- Acetone (Most commonly found in nail polish remover, but also in the paint section at your local home centers or here on Amazon)
- Scissors
- Some form of abrasive paper (I used an emery board)
- The sink filled with cold water (The colder, the better. I used ice, which helped to have cold water)
- Igniting source, such as a long BBQ lighter
Step-by-step instructions to cut glass bottles:
- Wrap 5 or 6 times the cotton string around the bottle
- Tie and cut loose ends of the cotton string
- Remove the cotton string and soak it in acetone
- Slide back the cotton string onto the bottle where you want it to break
- Light cotton string on fire
- Turn the bottle continuously to burn the cotton string evenly
- Keep the glass bottle bottom tilted up to trap hot air inside the bottle
- IMPORTANT: don’t breathe the gases and don’t catch anything else on fire. Do it above a sink like in the video.
- When the flame starts to go out, plunge the glass bottle into cold water
- Optional: It’s a good idea to sand the broken edge of the bottle in order to avoid any injuries.
- Voila
Watch the videos below to see how to easily cut glass bottles:
As you’ve seen in this tutorial, cutting a glass bottle is a rather simple process, we highly recommend to sand the edge of the bottle with an emery board or sandpaper to prevent any injuries.
What you can create with cut glass bottles:
Here are some ideas about what you can create with them:
- Fantastic candlesticks that you can use to decorate your home, patio, terrace, indoors or outdoors for unique party decor! (Learn how to build a chandelier Christmas garlands)
- Amazing chandeliers – cut the bottom of a glass bottle and fasten it to a piece of wood or metal, or suspend them with a DIY chandelier light kits. (Learn how to build a light sculpture using wood from crates)
- Lights – just cut the bottom of the bottle, pass through the electrical cords and pieces to hold the bottle in place, secure, and adjust to different lengths.
- A table lamp with larger decorative glass bottles. To build it, remove the lower part to pass the cable and adjust a cloth hat in the neck of the bottle.
But don’t stop there! Do the same with antique glass decanters that you can find at used stores and even yard sales. Create this budget-friendly, romantic, and stunning chandelier for less than $40. You can also construct an old fan following the instructions found in the suspension or found here: chains like.
Want other ways to cut glass bottles? There are several other techniques to cut glass bottles (with a flame, with boiling water, etc…), but the one presented here with the cotton twine and acetone has been the safest and fastest for us!
Other useful resources:
- This tutorial on Instructables: How to Cut a Bottle With String and Nail Polish Remover!
- In case you need to see other techniques, check out this Wikihow Page.
- For more inspiration, see some great Pinterest results!
Fantastic…how easy was that. Thanks for sharing.
i find it funny in the video it states cotton string and yet the person is using acrylic yarn
There is such a thing as cotton yarn, and I think cotton yarn comes in multicolor
yeah, but Lori is right; that’s an acrylic yarn she’s using, by Red Heart.
Uaaaaaauuuu!
so pretty!
thank YOU!
can’t see it!
UNBELIEVABLE! I needed this!
Thanks for sharing that. I have been looking for a way to do just that!
thats ace,i think im gona get carried away abit now………:)
really cool….do you know how to cut a small orifice in the base of the bottle, to insert a wire (as in making a lamp)? thanks
Dremel sander bit and patience.
Maybe you could just ball up some of the yarn or some cotton balls, soak in the acetone and lay it in the place you want the hole… we’ll have to try it… good thing it’s cheap to make mistakes ;)
YOu can buy a drill bit for cutting glass. 8.00 at home depot. I used it on a thick bottle and took a minute to get through it. perfect hole
thanks for the idea….
This is sooooo cool! Great video. I can’t wait to try this and make neat decorations! How did you ever come up with this idea?
you fill Nails in a bottle (works also with little stones), shake strongly. Another way to remove the bottom of the bottle. Faster and safer … try it:))
…..
Füll Nägel (oder kleine Kieselsteine) in eine Flasche und schüttel sie kräftig, bis sich der Flaschenboden löst! Geht schnell und sicher … Probiert es aus:))
Good info!!!
Pretty cool and pretty toxic. I will do this outside and wear a mask-
snowflake
Help please I really do want to do the same with antique glass decanters as suggested but can’t find the link to the instructions – could you repost it or the instructions – as i am not exactly sure where i would put the string for a hole in the base? Thank you
Amazing!! Love this! THanks for sharing!!
I cant seem to get it to work…:( Ive tried three times. is there any other trick
@ Habibi You have to use cotton string and remember to turn the bottle, make sure your string is soaked.
I’ve seen this method on several sites and don’t understand why anyone would do this rather than just use a glass cutter, which is MUCH easier (and safer!) than this. I’ve cut glass hundreds of times (literally)–with a glass cutter–without a single problem, but I’d be terrified to try this method. If anyone DOES try it, PLEASE wear protective goggles!!
WarsarNan I have a question for you. Please inform me on what cutting tool you’ve used to cut the bottles you cut. I bought one after trying the methods above without any luck. The one I bought however doesn’t work like they say it does? I’ve read the instructions and I’ve done everything imaginable to cut the bottles. Still no luck even after paying for this device I have yet to cut a bottle. Please be specific as to where you bought it, how much you paid, and the actual name and possibly even the maker of it invade I… Read more »
Hey Jeremiah…
Not sure if you got your response as I’m new to this site… But I just cut three bottles in less than 30 min. I only had hand glass cutter, but I will invest in the actually bottle cutter and It will make lines cleaner and straighter. What issues did you have? what where the steps you took?
I’ve tried this a couple of times now with the string method. the first time, I got long fractures down into the body of what’s to be the glass. If I tried to get rid of the fractured parts and smooth out the results, I’m afraid it’d be a lot of work for very little results. The second time, I wrapped some plastic tape in a straight line around the bottle to use as a guide for file which I used to score the bottle all the way around. Idea seemed to make sense. Took off the tape. Did the… Read more »
So cool, looks pretty easy.
here are good ideas
cool, antique. life is awesome.
I’ve tried this 5 times with 3 different bottles and it didn’t work. I did it exactly as the video showed. Very disappointing…
Wow that is pretty genius! I must try this…
Nice method but for heaven’s sake, put the lid on the acetone before you light the string, there are plenty of cases of serious burns and explosions caused by the ignition of vapour from flammable solvents, it’s quite amazing how little you need to make a powerful explosion capable of blowing out windows and worse.
good point! Acetone is extremely volatile and if it caught a spark there could be a very bad fire and serious injuries within seconds.
~ I will be making lamps from wine bottles & (or) Champagne & other liqour bottles . ~ Thank you for your wonderful tip on how to do ! ~ Gail :D
didn’t work for me either…
the glass cut unevenly, we set a hand on fire, & cut a finger but followed the directions to the tee. would not recommend this to anyone. better directions would be to show how to not shatter the glass up the bottle, to break evenly.
Awesome Awesome Awesome
Didn’t work! I tried it 4 times on a wine bottle. What a bust!
Super cool seeing it done- looks easy enough! thank you.
LOVE this idea. I am a bit nervous to try it. but it looks fabulous!
I tried 3 different bottles about 3 times each and watched the video serveral times. It didn’t work! What am I doing wrong?
Alright…4 tries to get it to work. I tried a variety of “strings” and only got it to finally work with hemp twine (used to tie up plants with…green, so it was a tad bit messy). I have NOT perfected it yet (gotta keep the string relatively straight), but am looking forward to showing this to my Girl Scout troop this week (they’re 17-18 years old). I would NOT do this with younger kids!
I tried this several times – Nothing. Do you use Acetone Polish Remover and Yarn?
I tried several times trying to cut a wine bottle. Nothing complete bust. What is wrong. I used cotton string and acetone nail polish remover.
OMG I kept scooting back in my chair waiting for the bottle to crack in my face, “Scared” and I wasn’t even there. Man this is so neat to know. Thank You so much for showing me how to cut my own bottles. Now I can save instead of throwing away or filling my empty bottles with rice, quinoa etc. etc. but you can only reuse so many bottles now. This is just great, I am so glad to have knowledge of this easy smeasy concept. Man o man Do I have ideas. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I… Read more »
Well reading everyone elses posts or comments kind of have me a little bit scared to try this now. I’m definetely wearing protective glasses and clothing and also doing this outside instead of my kitchen sink area. You did make it look easy but wonder why some had trouble doing this. Maybe not letting it burn long enough to get hot enough to crack.
it is amazing ….
Def will try this. I can’t believe how many posters are just plain nasty with their comments. Thanks for posting!
I’ve updated the post with a new video … another method to cut glass bottles…enjoy :)
does this method also work with cuting a round hole? i want to make it so i can put lights in a bottle but a hole on the side for the cord to come out.
They have drill bits for drilling glass
This is pretty damn cool, I can’t wait to try it!
I can not wait to try this!
Gracias por compartir lo que hacen
Thank you!
Hmmmm, both videos are now that same – and it involves using a cutter. What happened to the “no cutting” version of this?
ACETONE? hes using a glass cutter and hot and cold water… so whats the easyness of cutting bottle botoms? dont think everyone has a glass cutting device at home…
how wood you just cut a hole in the bottom of a vase with this method.
Make video available on mobile please
I just watched it on my HTC Sensation.