Fun with Concrete--Wine Bottle Window

We really do love rocks here at Badboulder; our downstairs kitchen and pantry space built around four sizable ones is a true testament to our attachment. The two largest, eighteen feet tall, take a huge chunk out of usable space but provide appreciable cooling during our searing summer season. Our engineer brother-in-law once remarked that if we ever got the boulders hot, we would need no heat the rest of the winter. We wish!

The two towering boulders have provided us with the perfect space for an interesting window. I have read about early territorial windows made by necessity from bottles in the Tucson area and it gave me the idea of using that same strategy for a natural space between our twin boulders (see Concrete Chronicles, chapter three, for a picture).

David experimented with a couple of wine bottle fences before trying the technique on our house. I like the fences so well, wish we had more of them but there's been a house to build; maybe someday.

In order to expose only the bottoms of the bottles on both the exterior and the interior of our home, he had to devise a new plan. We ordered a bottle cutter that removed the neck of the bottle (this was somewhat popular in the seventies for DIY glasses) and worked with matching pairs, one for the interior the other for exterior. The bottles were duct taped together to form a cylinder, then mortared into the space two layers at a time. The slower application allowed the mortar to harden, providing strength for the next two layers and avoiding a collapse. At eye level we mortared in a round eighteen-inch window to catch a few sun rays and a bit of a spying opportunity as well. We installed a decorative iron window to protect the round glass as replacement is nothing we want to face. The prospector who lived here during the early 1900's left us a goodly supply of whiskey bottles, so we put a pair of those in the mix. On the interior, David encircled the round window with green beer bottles; this is not visible on the exterior. By adding the beer bottle element, the amount of bottles used in our window project totaled ninety-nine. Makes me think he took too many band trips back in his high school days when everyone sang Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall--probably to annoy the bus driver.

Light does shine through the bottles of all colors--amber, clear, brown, green and blue. I especially enjoy the window during our short winter days. One visitor deemed the window his favorite part of our house. I'm very happy with it because it follows the natural space created by the boulders and pays homage to the pioneers who used materials at hand. We've had plenty of friends willing to bestow us with their empties.

FROM THE KEYHOLE: 99 bottles of beer on the wall, take one down, pass it around.....oh, it's me. Better get back to business. Yes, bottle windows are fun, especially making the bottles empty. Ever notice most wine bottles are green. Some brown, some amber, and a few are blue. Cheap wine comes in clear glass, so I had a lot of clear bottles. But no red wine bottles. Anyone ever seen a red wine bottle? If you have, please let me know.

a parting shot from bbman: waste not, want not.