This lamp got a modern makeover with nearly 90 upcycled pill bottles. A friend of mine with a few health conditions unexpectedly left a bag full of empty pill bottles she had been saving for me (over time) on my doorstep and asked me to turn them into something useful. As an upcycler I took on the challenge. I’ve seen many different upcycles for pill bottles, but after seeing Jean Shin’s “Chemical Balance III” I knew I wanted to create some form of lantern… but without a connection to their previous use. The beautiful orange color and cylindrical shapes without the labels/caps give these bottles a new beauty.
How many of these bottles do you throw away every year?
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Before: an old lamp and a pile of empty pill bottles (all donated… none of these were my drugs!)
After: a warm glow and geometric shadow
Looking up
Top view
Read below to see the process
By removing the fabric of the original shade I was able to keep the top metal ring alone
By using fishing line I was able to suspend each bottle from the metal ring through a tiny drilled hole in the bottom of each
To keep the bottles from slipping I used tiny glass beads that held them in place
This also helped to hang them in a pattern
In person the bottle pattern layers act as a magnifying glass giving multiple colors and dimension
Swirling around the base
Yes, they do move when you touch them and make fun noises. Watch the video below
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