Kmcvicker's Weblog

Study by the light of a liquor bottle | October 16, 2008

It’s not uncommon to see empty alcohol bottles lining the windows of Husky apartments and houses.  It is a little out of the ordinary when those same bottles are filled with wires and are providing light for hallways and bedrooms. At UW sophomore Caleb Cook’s place, that’s exactly what they’re doing.  Cook has fashioned do-it-yourself liquor lamps.

“I’m very creative,” says Cook.  “My lamps are cheap, and they look awesome.”

Cook's first lamp

Cook got the idea for his lamps from one of his friends in Ohio.  He told me, “It’s easy to make things look nice, and I like expressing my own style.”

The lamps cost him about $10 to make.  He used recycled bottles and old lampshades from his house springing only for new light bulbs.

“I can’t go out and buy like $40-$50 lamps,” claimed Cook.  “That’s just out of this world.  I need to save my money and be as rich as possible in case the stock market crashes.”

Cook said putting the lamps together was pretty simple, the only problem he had, “was corking the bottle, I had to keep shaving it down.”

Liquor bottles were Cook’s choice material, but obviously any, more age-appropriate bottle would work as well.

“The important thing is that your lamp represents you,” said Cook.  “You’ll be more proud of it than anything else.”

Cook's second lamp