In order to turn your favorite wine bottle into a functioning lamp you need to purchase a lamp socket.

The lamp socket is part of a kit that you install on the top of your bottle, you can then run the cord through the bottle and install a light string with it or let the cord run outside of the bottle (if you don’t want to drill a hole). There are several different Wine Bottle Lamp Kits to choose from.

The one that is right for you depends on which lamp shade you’re planning on using, the size of your bottle, and if you are comfortable drilling a hole in the glass.

The Candlestick Bottle Adapter – This is the lamp kit that we use most of the time for our Bottle Lamps. The Candlestick Adapter comes with bottle adapters in three different sizes. This kit is very easy to install, comes with an eight foot white cord and has a push through on and off switch on the socket.  For this particular bottle lamp kit you will need a lamp shade that sits on top of the light bulb socket. Most department stores carry inexpensive lamp shades for this kit.

Make A Lamp Harp Kit – The Make A Lamp Kit has a brass plated 10″ detachable harp and push through on and off switch. Like I mentioned above, the harp lamp kit is used for lamp shades that have a small hole in the frame. The lamp shade sits on top of the harp and is secured with a decorated screw on top. This kit is very easy to install and has an eight foot brown cord. Keep in mind that some harps can be a bit wobbly. You might want to re-enforce the harp, especially if the lamp shade is heavy. Lamp kits with harps are available with 7, 8, 9, and 10 inch harps.

Cork Stopper Lamp Kit – This lamp kit (set of two) is perfect for turning vintage wine bottles into lamps if you’re apprehensive about drilling a hole and running the risk of breaking the bottle. The cork stopper lamp conversion kit has the 6 foot cord attached to the light socket and sits outside of the bottle. It has a one inch cork that will fit most wine bottle openings.

Fellow bottle crafters send us lamp kit questions all the time:

“The adapter doesn’t fit the neck of the bottle. Any thoughts of how to get it to fit?”

We used a few layers of duct tape to add a little bit of width to the adapter or rubber stopper to make it fit.

Of course once you installed your bottle lamp light socket you need to add a lamp shade.

I’m making a lamp using a large 1.75L bourbon bottle. The candlestick kit doesn’t have an adapter that fits. Can you tell me which kit was used to make the Growler Bottle Lamp that is pictured on your “Bottle Lamp Kits Explained” page?

I used the rubber ring that fit the closest to it and then added a little ‘padding’ to it to make it work. This is something that always needs to be addressed when using these kits as nothing ever seems to fit exactly. The growler was a little bit bigger challenge. For the growler I cut out a cardboard width that matched the height of the rubber stopper and then the length to match the circumference as well. By adding this padding you will make your light post fit more snugly inside the neck.

One more thing that I did to ensure that this would stay stable was to incorporate the lid that screwed onto the growler. By drilling a hole in the center that will be just big enough to let the lamp post pass through you can screw the lid back on and give it even more stability.

You mentioned on your bottle lamp kit site that you can get lampshades that just fit on the bulb. Are you talking about shades with bulb clips? And where do you find larger shades with clips? I see plenty of them with a ring that screws onto a lamp harp but the only ones with clips seem to be small candelabra shades.

I have the bottle lamp kit that has the cork on the bottom and am having trouble finding shades for it.

The illustration below will give you a better idea of the different types of lamp shades available. Believe it or not we’ve purchased quite a few from Wal-Mart. We just added a personal touch to make them less bland (trim or decorations).

Shop for Wine Bottle Lamp Kits!

Where we able to answer your wine bottle lamp kit questions? If not, leave us a comment below and please remember to share.