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Home » DIY & Crafts

Light Bulb Flower Vase

Modified: Apr 29, 2025 · Published: May 11, 2016 by Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist · This post may contain affiliate links · 4 Comments

Jump to How-To

See how to make a light bulb flower vase. Turn your old burnt-out light bulbs into a hanging flower vase with this great upcycle.

How to make a lightbulb vase.
Jump to:
  •  Why We Love This Project
  • Materials:
  • How to Make A Light Bulb Flower Vase
  • More Craft Inspiration
  • Frequently Asked Questions

 Why We Love This Project

  • It's free since we're upcycling burnt-out light bulbs.
  • It's a great way to keep the lightbulbs out of landfill.
  • They're really pretty!

Making a  light bulb vase is an easy and free project.  They're perfect for adding a little bit of whimsy to your space.  They'd also be great as an inexpensive decoration for an event or party.

We love a craft that is a good upcycle. We reused materials to make these mason jar oil lamps, book page paper feathers, and these upcycled sweater mittens.

As a blogger, you sometimes find yourself doing unusual things.  Yesterday I was out for a morning walk and as I walked I was peeking into all my neighbours recycling bins, looking for their old tin cans for another project I’ll share with you soon.  

As I looked I saw someone had three lightbulbs in their recycling (can you even recycle lightbulbs?) and I remembered a project that I’d always wanted to give a try -Light Bulb Flower Vases.  So, I grabbed them and brought them home.

Materials:

How to Make A vase out of an old lightbulb
  • Light Bulbs: We actually found these in our neighbour's recycling bin, it's a really great way to reuse them once they're burnt out. If you wanted to make a bunch of these vases you could ask your friends and family to save there's for you too.
  • Screw Driver: You will need this to help break out the inner parts of the light bulb.
  • Gloves and Safety Goggles: Saftey first, especially when working with tiny bits of broken glass.
  • Needle Nose Pliers: These pointy pliers will be easiest to get into the small opening at the base of the light bulb.

How to Make A Light Bulb Flower Vase

1. The first step is to remove the bottom of the light bulb using pliers.  This project involves a fair bit of glass breaking, so it’s a good idea to wear gloves, safety goggles, and work in a plastic bag for easy clean-up, since the glass pieces are so small.

light bulb vase how to

2. Once the bottom is removed, it’s time to break the thick black glass.  I looked at quite a few tutorials for this, and most recommended using the pliers or a screw driver to get inside the small hole, and break it that way.  

I used a metal skewer and twisted it around to try and crack the glass. Once I had it cracked, I worked the tip of the needle nose pliers in and tried to break it up so it would come out.  

This is the hardest part of the whole the project, since you're trying to work careful so as not to break the bulb itself.  Take your time and keep trying, bit by bit you’ll get it broken up and removed.

3. Next you need to break the inside glass part, I used a screw driver, again taking care not to break the bulb itself.  You’ll need to use the pliers to break the little wires, and then shake it out of your opening.  

I found it easiest to work inside the plastic bag, since there’s a lot of tiny pieces of glass.  Once you have the insides all out, you're nearly finished.

removing the inside of an old light bulb

4. For my little vases, I used a some twine to hang them from a branch in my dining room.

light bulb vases

I just picked a few pretty flowers from my garden and added a little water.

hanging light bulb vases

I love how they turned out.

How to Make A Light Bulb Flower Vase

So simple and so pretty.

hanging flower vase made from an old light bulb

With these pretty and inexpensive light bulb flower vases, life really is a party!

More Craft Inspiration

  • How to make mason jar oil lamps.
    Mason Jar Oil Lamps
  • How to make a ribbon wall hanging.
    Ribbon Wall Hanging
  • DIY twig houses.
    Twig Houses
  • How to build a pillow fort with pillows, blankets, and star decorations.
    How To Build The Ultimate Pillow Fort

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of light bulbs can you use to make a light bulb flower vase?

This project works best with a clear glass light incandescent bulb. These also look great made out of vintage-style larger glass bulbs.

If I don't want to hang my light bulb vase, is there a way to stand it up?

Yes, use any kind of small ring on the bottom to rest the vase in, or use stiff wire to create a support for the vase.

If you try making these Light Bulb Flower Vases or any other idea on my blog please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting today!

How to make a vase from an old lightbulb.

Light Bulb Flower Vases

Make flower vases out of old burnt-out light bulbs.
No ratings yet
Print Pin Rate
Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes
Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist
Cost: free

Equipment

  • Screw Driver
  • Gloves
  • Safety Goggles
  • Needle Nose Pliers

Materials

  • Burnt-out Light Bulbs
  • Twine
  • Plastic Bag

Instructions

  • The first step is to remove the bottom of the light bulb using pliers.  
    This project involves a fair bit of glass breaking, so it’s a good idea to wear gloves, safety goggles, and work in a plastic bag for easy clean-up, since the glass pieces are so small.
  • Once the bottom is removed, it’s time to break the thick black glass.  
    Use the pliers or a screw driver to get inside the small hole, and crack the glass. Once it's cracked, work the tip of the needle nose pliers in and break it up so it can come out. 
    This is the hardest part of the whole the project, since you're trying to work careful so as not to break the bulb itself.  Take your time and keep trying, bit by bit you’ll get it broken up and removed.
  • Next you need to break the inside glass part, I used a screw driver, again taking care not to break the bulb itself.  You’ll need to use the pliers to break the little wires, and then shake it out of your opening.
  • Since the light bulbs are round and won't sit on a flat surface, use some twine to hang them. Fill with water and flowers and enjoy.

Notes

Be sure to wear goggles, and gloves since you're working with broken glass for this project.  
Tip: Place your light bulb inside a plastic bag while you work to remove the insides, that way the tiny bits of glass will stay in the bag and make for easy clean up.

More DIY and Craft Project Ideas

  • Everlasting gingerbread houses made from gingerbread salt dough.
    Easy Gingerbread Salt Dough Recipe for Houses and Ornaments
  • Cricut gingerbread decor felt gingerbread house banner and gingerbread canister with vinyl gingerbread houses
    DIY Gingerbread Decor Ideas To Make With Your Cricut
  • DIY paper Christmas cloche cricut
    DIY Paper Christmas Cloche Lantern with Free Cricut Pattern
  • DIY velvet acorn
    How To Make DIY Velvet Acorns

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. dnr says

    August 15, 2018 at 7:35 am

    Betty, thanks so much. So glad you tried it it! Great idea to use floral scissors, thanks for the tip!
    Dannyelle

  2. Betty says

    July 25, 2018 at 8:44 am

    I’ve been wanting to do them forever. You explained it so well that I had to try it right away. The only difference is that I used floral scissors - pointed at the end and easy enough to break the inside. Super excited!!!

  3. dnr says

    May 17, 2016 at 7:09 pm

    Thanks Neelam 😉

  4. Neelam says

    May 16, 2016 at 11:46 pm

    Oh my! What a lovely idea! They look so pretty!
    xx
    Neelam
    http://patternsandprosecco.com

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