Wine Bottle Hummingbird Feeder

Some people collect stamps or coins. Others collect figurines. I collect glass bottles. My ever changing collection resides on the bottom shelf of the storage system in our garage. It started a few years ago when I needed some bottles to make a border for my flower garden. I finished the garden, but couldn't stop collecting the bottles. I have large bottles, small bottles, liquor, soda and condiment bottles, round and square bottles, blue, green and clear bottles. You name it. And as more people learn about my crazy collection, the more people start saving different types of bottles for me.

What, you may ask, do I do with all these bottles? Well, I love to incorporate them into craft projects because the possibilities are virtually endless. One project I have wanted to try for quite awhile is wine bottle hummingbird feeders. It took a couple attempts to get the right combination of materials, but I think the result is simple and beautiful. (Not to mention that the hummingbirds go absolutely crazy over them.)

Materials

• wine bottle
• five feet of 6 gauge copper electrical wire
• pliers
• electrical tape
• Songbird Essentials SE619 Stopper Hummingbird Feeder Bird  or Hummingbird Feeder Tubes For Making Your Own Feeders (Pkg of 12) if you are planning on making more than one feeder(I purchased mine on Amazon, but you may be able to find these at a local store specializing in wild birds)
• glass paint (optional)

(Variation - If you want a smaller feeder you can use a beer or soda bottle and two to three feet of 8 gauge copper wire.)

Directions

Before you begin clean the bottle and remove the label from your bottle.

	You will be constructing a cage around the bottle by bending the copper wire with a pair of pliers. A bit of muscle is required because the wire is pretty heavy duty. I wrapped the tip of my pliers with a few layers of electrical tape cover the tiny grooves on the pliers so they don't mar the surface of the copper wire. You don't have to do this, but your project will be prettier if the copper is nice and shiny.
	Let's start bending the wire. Make sure to give yourself plenty of room to work. Five feet of wire can be a bit unruly and you don't want to poke anyone or scratch any surfaces in your house. Create a loop that is bigger than the neck of the bottle, but smaller than the body. Loop the copper around 1 1/2 to 2 times.
	Slide the loop over the neck of the bottle
	Bend the wire so it is at a perpendicular to the first loop and parallel to the body of the bottle.
	Twist the wire in a tight coil around the body of the bottle until about 6 inches of wire remain.
	Next you will be making a hook so that you can hang your feeder. Bend a loop about an inch in diameter in the end of the wire, leaving an opening so you can hook this when you hang your feeder outside.
	Bend the loop back as shown into a backwards "S" shape
	Stretch out the coils and bend the "S" hook over the top of the bottle so it is secured inside the wire. Fill your feeder with nectar, insert the feeder tube and it's ready to use. There is a bit of a trick to filling the feeder properly so it doesn't leak. I'll share my tips in my next post or you can check out my video about filling your hummingbird feeder on You Tube.

If you want you can add some bling by using glass paint to apply flowers or other decorations on the outside of the bottle before you fill it. This is the clear glass bottle feeder that hangs in our front yard. The hummingbirds love it and I enjoy watching them.