DIY Citronella Wine Bottles

It's no secret that I love sweet muscadine wine.  One of our favorite things to do in the area is go to wine festivals, wine tastings, and winery tours.  We've acquired a decent amount of wine this way, so I wanted to find something neat to do with either our wine bottles or the corks.  I still haven't experimented with all the cork ideas I've found on Pinterest, but I found a winner for leftover wine bottles.

DIY Citronella Torches
(adapted from this tutorial)

What You Need:

Wine bottles (as many as you please; we only used colored bottles)
Thread Seal Tape (1/2 inch wide)
1/2" x 3/8" Copper Coupling (1 for each bottle)
1/2" Copper Cap (1 for each bottle)
Tiki Replacement Wicks
Tiki Torch Fluid


To remove the wine bottle labels I filled a large bowl with hot, soapy water.  Then I filled each wine bottle with hot water and left them to soak for an hour.  Most of the labels had already fallen off & were floating in the water when I came back, but there were a few tough ones that I had to get with a razor blade.

Once the labels are off, you can get started.  Wrap the tape around the copper coupling, keeping the wraps smooth, until it fits snugly into the mouth of the wine bottle.  Place your wick replacement through the coupling and leave about 1/4" out.  Use a funnel to fill your wine bottle with as much torch fluid as you please.  Give the wick some time to absorb the fluid, and then you are ready to light the torch.

When you're finished using your torch, just blow it out and place the copper cap over it.

Since we are moving, we made our torches to stand alone.  The original tutorial that I linked above provides instructions on how to hang the torch, so check that out if it's the look you want to achieve.  Otherwise, I hope your new citronella torch keeps you bite free!