Building Wine Bottle Tiki Torch Stands

My friend and I went to a winery one day, where they had hardware kits available for purchase, complete with the ceramic stopper and cotton rope.  These kits also included the pieces that enabled you to hang a wine bottle on the side of a fence, or a house, and put oil in them to keep the bugs away.  We have mosquitoes like crazy here, so they would work perfectly for our front porch.  I snagged two of them. Unfortunately, I didn’t think about the fact that we would have nowhere to hang them on the front porch, unless we wanted to drill into our vinyl siding, which I really didn’t want to do.

The kits sat around in my garage for a while, until I was finally able to figure out a plan.  Finally, I stumbled across a picture of a free-standing, portable wood design on the internet.  I have no idea where I found it, since I didn’t save it, but it was exactly what I needed. There were no instructions to go with the picture, but I knew Double D could make it in a snap.

The first thing Double D did was measure how tall the wine bottle was, which would decide the height of the piece.  Then he measured the bottle and the threaded rod that would be holding it away from the wood, which decided the width of the stand. Then he cut two pieces of the 4×4″ wood at 14 inches.

And two pieces of the 1×6″ wood at 12 inches, allowing for enough of the wood to stick out one inch past the 4×4″ in the back.

Next, Double D screwed the two pieces of wood together on the bottom.

We then mounted the top plate connector to the 4×4 that would hold the threaded rod, and the wine bottle. We did a trial run where we actually put one together, so we could make sure the wine bottle didn’t stick out past the end of the 1×6″ base. Everything seemed to be fine, and it didn’t tip over from the weight of the bottle and oil.  We disassembled the torch hardware, but left the top plate connector on the 4×4.

I decided to paint them yellow to match my door.  I started with a primer coat, which I used Rustoleum’s spray paint.  This took a couple of coats to completely cover the wood.  I had only lightly sanded the edges, so they definitely have a rugged look about them.

I’m glad I used the primer, since I only had one can of yellow spray paint by Rustoleum. I did two coats of the Warm Yellow for each stand.

I didn’t get any pictures of the next step, but I had picked up two copper newel post caps that would be used for decking or fencing normally. I made sure it was the size of the 4×4, and just glued the two caps to the wood. Also, I put rubber feet on the bottom of each stand, just so it would be up off the table slightly since they are outside.

Here is the final product we created.  We screwed the threaded rod into the plate, and attached the split ring hanger to the rod.  Then we just inserted the neck of the bottle, and tightened the screws on the split ring. We actually used two smaller wine bottles than the regular size we measured for, but it will at least give us room, in case we want to use the regular size at a later point.

And here they are on the tables.  The yellow pops against the grey siding, and it matches the door, and the flowers in the cushions. I like how they turned out, and they do seem to work just like they should.  We don’t have nearly the mosquitoes buzzing around when these are lit! 

Thanks for looking!

Sarah

Linking up to Between Naps on the Porch, Dishing It & Digging It, Domestically Speaking and A Stroll Thru Life: