How to Light a Bottle Tree

Most bottle trees are far more elaborate than this, but this image does convey the basic idea behind the craft.

Bottle trees are folk-art based creations that essentially consist of clean, bright, glass bottles mounted on metal bases to form a tree or bloom shape. These sculptures, which are generally set outdoors, are beautiful when the sun hits them and have roots in an African tradition designed to honor deceased relatives. Many people have discovered that lighting bottle trees is a great way to make the sculpture come alive at night. If you already have a bottle tree, you can easily light it yourself with a little time and patience.

Things You'll Need

• Christmas tree mini-lights
• Twisters the same color as the metal scaffold of the bottle tree

Instructions

1. Start stuffing Christmas lights into the bottle at the top of the tree. You can pack the bottles full, or just insert a few lights in each bottle. Work your way down the tree, adding more strands of lights as necessary. When you have filled a bottle, replace it on its spike on the tree and run the lights down the branch until they reach the next bottle.

2. Fix the strands to the limbs of the tree as you go. Use the twisters to hold the cord tightly to the branches so that they are not easily visible.

3. Remove lights that are not in the bottles. This will make the bottles stand out more and make the cords less obvious.

4. Plug your bottle tree in. Now you can enjoy the unique display of your bottle tree during the day and at night.

Tips & Warnings

• Use outdoor lights to prevent shorts and malfunctions.

References

• The Bottle Tree Man: History of the Bottle Tree