In 2019, one of a matched pair of mosaic glass candle holders on our table accidentally broke. Initially, I thought it would be easy enough to buy something similar for a replacement. However I couldn't find what I wanted. So I decided to craft my own mosaic glass candle holder.... it's become an absorbing sideline: cutting wine bottles in two, either to fashion usable drinking glasses, or to craft mosaic glass candle holders by applying mosaic glass tile and grout.
The remaining mosaic glass candle holder of what had been a matched pair:
My crafted replacement:
The finished product (on the left).... not a bad replacement for the one that'd broken....
Because it was difficult to find a glass into which I could put a 3"diameter candle, my curiosity was piqued to see what was involved in cutting glass bottles in two. I started with wine bottles, and found that besides being good for candle holders, they made good drinking glasses after the sharp edges were sanded off with sandpaper...
Add mosaic tile, grout, and I have a growing family of mosaic glass candle holders. My favorite so far is a made from jar that once held Fantis pitted Kalamata olives. I like it because there's a fluted section of the upper rim that looks great above the blue glass mosaic tiles. This jar is tricky to cut, in that the best place for the scoring line is around a circumferential flare at the top of the jar... you have to get the scoring tool to create the score best at the outermost part of the bulge. Once that's done, cutting the jar, with a splash of boiling water, then a splash of ice water, then a splash of boiling water... causes the top to drop off easily. Sandpaper works to round off the sharp edges of the cut glass. And while my preference for glassware for beverages is cobalt blue glass, I am enjoying drinking out of these glasses derived from green wine bottles. It's a little like my obsession with eating breakfast out of a coconut shell bowl... it links me to the product by the labor involved in crafting the item by hand.
