How Do You Make Firefly Bottles?

I recently saw a firefly bottle at a friend’s house and I was fascinated by the simplicity of the idea and of course how totally cool it looked so I set out to make my own. I got home and realized I had forgotten to ask her how she did it so after a tedious journey back to her house I got the necessary information.

How do you make firefly bottles? You need:

A clean empty bottle which can be any color, green or clear works best
A set of battery-operated fairy lights, a set containing about twenty lights should be enough
Batteries, if they are not included
Self-adhesive velcro strips to attach the battery pack to the bottle
Some black masking tape to disguise the battery pack and fix it to the bottle if needed, if not use velcro

So now I had all the things I needed I set out to make my first firefly bottle. Luckily for me, I had just finished a nice Rioja a few nights before that so it gave me a good excuse to try out my creative skills. I thought this would make a really lovely gift for another friend who had helped me out recently so I thought this would be a perfect thank-you gift. See below for how I went from spare parts to a lovely glowing gift. If you need to get a kit check it on Amazon here.

How to Make the Firefly Bottle

Remove any foil or plastic from the neck of the bottle which helps to keep the cork/stopper clean and in place.
Remove the label using either a hair dryer to warm the glue behind the label so you can carefully peel it or place the bottle in a bowl of warm soapy water and allow it to sit for about 10 minutes. Then you can scrub the label with a nylon brush and the label will come away from the bottle. If there is any glue residue left then further cleaning with the nylon brush may be required until all the excess glue has been removed.
Wash the inside of the bottle thoroughly with a light soap solution and then rinse until all the soap is gone. Stand the bottleneck down to allow the water to drain without leaving any water marks on the bottle.
With the bottle now dry, take the fairy lights and straighten out the copper wire they are attached to. This will make it easier to feed them down into the neck of the bottle. Add a few small kinks into the wire so they fold into a random pattern into the bottle and do not get too bunched up in any part of the bottle. This will help add to the firefly illusion.
Once the lights are in the bottle you can fix a piece of velcro to both the battery pack and to the back of the bottle. You can use some black masking tape to cover the battery pack to make it harder to see.
Insert the batteries and fix the battery pack to the bottle and enjoy your firefly bottle light.

Pros and Cons of Battery-Powered Lights

As with all projects, there are pros and cons to using certain types of materials. Let’s have a quick look at what they are.

Benefits of using a battery pack to power the bottle light

Easy to make: You don’t need to be an electrician to make this fun project
Mobile: As you do not need an electrical outlet you can take and use it anywhere.
Fast: As you are not doing anything to the bottle it literally takes no more than 30 minutes to make
Safe: You are not cutting the bottle nor are you plugging the light into any main electrical circuits. Safe for use outdoors also.
Easy to get materials: All of the materials are readily available to make this light, no hard-to-get components
Cheap: A set of lights are really cheap and the other components are not really too expensive either

Drawbacks of using a battery pack to power the bottle light

Batteries need replacing: Batteries don’t last forever and how many bulbs you have in your light will directly affect how long those batteries will last
Limited creativity: You have a few light variations but you are limited to small led style bulbs or bulbs with some simple shapes like stars
Limited brightness: You can only really fit one set of lights into the bottle which as they are battery-powered will limit just how bright your light can get
Can break easily: Lights can sometimes be unreliable or could break easily as they are cheap.

Alternative Ways to Make the Firefly Bottle Light

If you are feeling more adventurous you could buy some lights which connect to the mains power. You will need to be a little more creative with your bottle and this would involve either:

Making a hole in the side of the bottle at the bottom

Using a piece of masking tape and a low-speed electric drill you can make a hole in the bottle. Place the tape where you need the hole to be and using your drill’s slowest setting use the tape to begin making a small dent in the glass. Once you have your initial guide you can remove the tape and begin drilling. You will need to do this near a water source so you can trickle water onto the drill bit while you are drilling to keep the bit lubricated so you don’t break the bottle.

Once you have drilled the hole you can feed a set of electric lights into the upturned bottle. As the hole is at the bottom of the bottle the cable will be set low and behind the bottle out of view to make it more visually appealing.

Cutting the bottom off of the bottle

For this more adventurous step, it may be better for you to use a proper bottle-cutting jig to remove the base of the bottle. There are a few different types available to allow you to safely do this. Once you have removed the entire base of the bottle you can arrange the lights in the bottle exactly how you want them to look. This will let you make the firefly scene in your bottle appear as natural as possible. With the bottom of the bottle completely removed, this gives you much greater access to the inside of the bottle and will let you use a much greater range of lights and materials.

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