Lightbulb Vases

My first foray into operation learn-new-things was inspired by Pinterest. Pinterest is an endless source of procrastination for me, and inspires me to attempt to be creative. Generally, when I decide to do something creative, I lose the initiative halfway through, and either do a shoddy job, or abandon the project altogether. For example, one time I decided to hang interesting travel pictures in my room, got as far as printing and framing them, and then, realized I had no hammer and nails to hang them.... those framed pictures stayed in a pile on my floor for over TWO YEARS.

However, seeing all the beautiful little knick-knacks on pinterest motivated me to follow through this time. I decided to make vases out of light bulbs!

It was super easy!

1) Use pliers to pry off the gold base & contact.

2) Use a wrench or a hammer to hit the black glass at the bottom of the bulb until it breaks. You want to be careful not to hit too hard, or to squeeze the light bulb and shatter it. I guess I would describe the appropriate amount of force as somewhere between a "gentle tap" and a "controlled smack".

3) When the glass breaks, scoop it out and and use the pliers to yank out the various junk in there.

Now when you turn it upside down, you have a little vase! The internet gave me several suggestions for mounting the vase, such as bending coat hanger wires, or balancing it on a shot glass, but I am extremely awesome and went with another option -- I tied a loop of fishing line around the metal part, and hung the whole thing from hooks above my window. Just to be fancy, I also decorated the bulb with little dots of silver nail polish, which I think look very pretty in the sunlight.