DIY: Recycled Wine Bottle Torches

I have had a ton of DIY projects collected on my Pinterest boards for a while. After getting bitten by many a mosquito recently in our backyard, Alan decided to make our own "tiki-bug-repelling-torches". I showed him this inspiration idea that I liked, and he agreed that they would be pretty simple to make.


Off to Lowe's he went for all of the supplies. We already had some spare wine bottles hanging around waiting to be recycled. 

We decided to make four torches, one for each post on our back patio area. Since the bug repellent fluid was a little pricey, we decided to make two bug repellent torches, and two plain citronella torches to keep this project relatively inexpensive.

Next, Alan drilled holes into bottle caps and we threaded the wicks through. 

To mount them, we used ceiling flanges, 1" split ring hangers, and a length of all thread. 

The ceiling flanges were mounted to the posts and the all thread was cut down to 5" pieces with a dremel. 

Next, the all thread pieces were screwed to the split ring hangers, then both were screwed into the mounted ceiling flanges. We filled the bottles with torch fuel, inserted the wicks, and hung them from the split rings. 

Finally, we lit them and enjoyed dinner on the patio with only a few mosquito visitors. 

We can definitely tell a difference in the amount of bugs around, so we both agree this really easy afternoon project was a successful one! 

Project pricing breakdown:

4 wine bottles:                         FREE

64oz bottle of bitefighter fuel:       10.44

100oz bottle of citronella fuel:        9.98

4 1" copper split ring hangers:         6.68

4 3/8" ceiling flanges:                 5.68

3/8" all thread:                        2.81

2 2-pk tiki replacement wicks:          4.92

TOTAL:                                $40.51