I Revived An Old Lamp Using Nearly 90 Empty Pill Bottles.

This lamp got a modern makeover with nearly 90 upcycled pill bottles. A friend of mine with a few health conditions unexpectedly left a bag full of empty pill bottles she had been saving for me (over time) on my doorstep and asked me to turn them into something useful. As an upcycler I took on the challenge. I’ve seen many different upcycles for pill bottles, but after seeing Jean Shin’s “Chemical Balance III” I knew I wanted to create some form of lantern… but without a connection to their previous use.

Before:

First I cleaned off the glue from each bottle label with WD40 and removed all the lids

Then I removed the fabric from the original lamp shade. I was able to drill a small hole in the bottom of each bottle and hang them from the existing metal ring with fishing line.

To anchor each bottle at different heights I would attach a small, clear glass bead to the end of the fishing line.

I ended up needing to add a smaller metal ring for a second layer of bottles. Just make sure not to hang them too close to the bulb.

Finished:

The end result gave the effect of a lava lamp, with really neat shadows!

How many pill bottles do you throw away each year? For a full tutorial check out the feature FavCrafts wrote about this project. Happy crafting!