What’s In Your Bottle Lamp?

Glass marbles make great bottle fillers

Tips For Using Different Fillers For Your Bottle Lamp.

Most fillers for bottle lamps are used to hide the electrical cord that runs up the bottle from the base to the neck, where the mechanics of the lamp kit are set. The reality of this is that almost anything (within reason) can be used to give your lamp stability or it’s own unique look.

For example, if your bottle is a bit top-heavy then you will want to add a heavy filler like lava rocks or glass marbles. If your bottle lamp is stable on the other hand, with a nice wide base, then you can use a lightweight filler like confetti or strips of foil.

Caribou lamp with coffee bean filler

We’ve experimented with everything from marbles in a Mason Jar to coffee beans in a Caribou growler, as you can see in the picture above.

How about a lamp filled with different corks that give it a style all it’s own?

Fill a bottle lamp with odds and ends like screws left lying around the garage floor to give your work bench in the basement it’s own personalized work light. Using strips of tinfoil can give your bottle lights more pizzazz and allows a more reflective glow to come from within.

The crystal fill that we’ve used in our wine bottles have given stability as well as a cooler feel to the lights inside. Vase filler used for floral arrangements have worked great to give a few of our liquor bottles a more ‘realistic’ look.

Remember to keep an open mind when looking for fillers for your bottle lamps.

Whether you’re personalizing a lamp to make a connection to it’s end user or you’re simply experimenting with different items that you think will make the ordinary extraordinary.

What items have you used as bottle filler for your bottle lamp projects? Feel free to leave us a comment below.

Using Bottle Fillers for a Diamond Like Look

We love hearing from our bottle-lamp website readers.

Besides sending in the awesome pictures you see on the DIY Show Off page, we also receive questions from our newsletter readers and video watchers on a regular basis.

We always try to answer these questions promptly and honestly within 24 hours. Unfortunately every once in a while an email will slip through. Nick will think I’ve taken care of it and I’ll think he went ahead and answered the email, when in actuality neither of us did. Well, this was the case with the following email. It took over a week before I finally noticed the email in our Inbox and realized the question hasn’t been addressed and Rajeev is still waiting for a response.

Glowing diamond like look - Jameson Bottle Light
Jameson bottle with a diamond like look

Here is his question:
“Hi: Can you please guide me how I can put a diamond like coating inside a bottle. See image attached. Thanks Rajeev”

Dear Rajeev, let me take this opportunity to once again apologize for our delayed response.

To answer your question, looking at the attached picture we can’t tell if the inside was actually painted or coated with anything. What we have done in the past is use a bottle filler called ‘crystal or diamond fill’ that gives a very similar effect. Crystal fill are small acrylic chips that reflect the light and give the bottle a nice glowing effect or diamond like look.

Acrylic chips or sand are mainly used in flower arrangements to hold everything in place. When added to your lighted bottle it will add extra weight for stability and hide the cords of your bottle lamp kit and string of lights as well.

Has anyone used a diamond like spray to cover the inside of a bottle?

We would be very interested in finding out if this was possible. Please leave us a comment below.

Visit our resources page to find out more about this and other fillers we use.