Would you Make a Bottle Wall... If you had the TIME?

This Saturday, I had a helper... a teenager we took into our house for the school year, because he needed a place to live close to the same school our little guy is going to.

In exchange of rent, we've decided to have a number of hours worked for his stay, and Saturday was a good day for all of us here on the suburban homestead!!! We're making a wall out of old glass bottles.

Before the weekend, I tested our masonry saw (wet saw) on a handful of bottles to make sure we had the proper tools to be able work. It worked really pretty well.

I was surprised because it's an old cheap tool, that I got used from a friend... not that this friend took bad care of his tools, it's the fact that it's a cheap brand and is pretty old, so I thought at least the blade might need changed. No, it's all good to go!

Our saw has a guide that came in very handy for cutting every bottle at an exactly the same size, 4 inches from the bottom. We're putting these bottles on a cinderblock knee wall. Once two bottoms have been cut, they get washed, and taped together.

Here's this bottle going in, I have to hold it in place to slide it in towards the blade, slowly.

This saw is a bit small for this, so I have to cut a part of the bottle and then slowly start to turn it, to cut it all around.

Here's the turning of the bottle, the first couple of times were terrifying... I didn't know if it would shatter, and send glass shards flying all around!!!

That's why I was wearing thick leather gloves, and safety goggles. But as you can see it cuts pretty clean actually, and not one bottle shattered:

That was it for the day, I only had a couple hours to play around, but I got a dozen bottles cut. Like I said earlier, this was just a test!

The weekend, was spent cutting about a hundred bottles, which may not be enough, being that we need two bottles per "brick". We can always cut more... I have been collecting for a few years, and we have a decent pile at the sanctuary still!

I'll post about this wall more for sure, because I find it fascinating, and I just love building with alternative, or upcycled materials!

Let me know if you would make a wall like this one, or if you already have... I would love to see your photos!