We will start with Recycling Old Light Bulbs, but first, light bulbs are awesome and not just because they provide us with the ability to see in the dark there are so many amazing ways to reuse them to make art survival gear even kitchen tools so let’s brighten up your day here are five alternate uses for your light bulbs now for most of the following projects you’re going to have to hollow out a dead light bulb let’s kick it off by making some salt and pepper shakers and show you a few tricks and tips along the way to start make sure you’re wearing a glove on the hand that’s touching the bulb to protect yourself pry up the end contact of the bulb using a razor or pliers once you have that part removed you’ll be met with an insulator that you need to chip away at and remove carefully this can be done using a small item such as a thumbtack or small screwdriver to crack the insulator once you have it cracked.

You simply remove the pieces with pliers or a screwdriver now we’re gonna pop out what’s called the exhaust tube take your screwdriver and break through the glass stem you want to use some finesse here and slowly circle around until you can carve out and clear the remaining debris finally you’re through now break out some small needle nose pliers and remove the filament congratulations your bulb is empty now if you used a white bulb here’s a simple and cool way to make it clear in a few seconds just pour in a bit of salt or sugar cover the top of the bulb and shake it like a madman the coloring will disappear right before your eyes and now we can move on to making the actual shakers obviously clean the bulbs out with water and soap and let them dry.

While they dry go to your recycling bin and grab two plastic bottle caps we’re going to use these to hold the salt and pepper inside the bulbs themselves surprisingly they thread right over the standard sized light bulbs take a small nail or pushpin and work several holes into the tops with salt and pepper we’ll be able to escape its bulby prison now we’re ready to fill up our bulbs with spiced goodness. I grabbed a small sheet of paper that was laying around and twisted it into the shape of a funnel once the funnels in the bulb it’s simply a matter of transferring the salt into its new home just dump it on in and when you’re done place the cap on top and you’re good to go and just a quick test so you can see that it works there you go the salt comes out freely but not too fast you can follow the exact same steps for the pepper as you can see here just make a funnel and dump it on in again a quick test to make sure it’s working as intended perfect we used furniture casters to hold the bulbs but anything with a circular bottom should hold them in place – there you go salt and pepper shakers made from light bulbs it’ll make your gourmet meal look even fancy let’s move on yeah just because your bulbs are burned out doesn’t mean you still can’t get a little light out of them we found these solar-powered garden lights at the dollar store and pick some up since we already went over the process of emptying out a bulb we’ll skip that from here on out and go on with the upcycling get your empty bulbs and the solar lights remove.

The top portion of the solar light and line the rim of the ball with a weak adhesive in case you need to remove it later on down the road press it on tightly and make sure the bulb isn’t going to fall off now for this next part you can use many items but we found brackets for hanging pictures to be an awesome solution we hot glued brackets directly on top of the solar panel they’re small enough that they won’t impede on the charging and strong enough to tie some fishing line around so you can hang the bulbs wherever you want we did one with a white bulb and one with a clear ball just to see what the difference was the white bulb had a better glow but the clear bulb produced more light to see in the dark go with whichever look you prefer all right now things are about to get sticky for this little bulb project we’re actually going to utilize a working LED ball we’re doing this because a large amount of silicone will be added to make the light more decorative and all-around awesome using a regular bulb would heat up the silicone too much and cause problems.

We did it anyway with a dead one so we could turn this thing into a nice ornament now here’s how to do it get a bottle of silicone sealant the type you might use to fix a leak hold the bulb from the base and emit large globs of silicone onto the bulb itself then slowly pull away creating a spike effect you can choose any length or size that you want it just depends on what you’re going for you understand work all the way around the bulb until you have your desired effect try to keep it hanging upside down until it begins to set where the silicone might go all over the place once it’s dry it’s time to fire it up stick it in a socket and set it ablaze ah the glory of the spiked LED light bulb we call this one the lucky bamboo ball we’re basically going to turn a blown-out bulb into a housing for a plant as usual we emptied out the bulb and got it nice and clean with water after that we scavenged around the neighbourhood for tiny pebbles to give it a nice earthy look of course you don’t want to just drop the rocks into the fall that you might shatter it to go to a nice slow pace.

Now pick a plant that fits the tube we thought a nice bamboo stick would look great in this situation and we ran with it after working the metal casing of the bulb out a bit we were able to fit it inside slide it on in and shake around the rocks until you have coverage over any root system that remains now just add water find a nice place to keep it upright as well voila a beautiful augment to your already stunning and beautiful kitchen finally here’s a good old standby you’ve probably seen before the light bulb oil lamp it’s super simple and extremely effective now you’re going to need a dead ball we’re using an old spotlight so it can stand up on its own and save us some pain later you also need a wick and some lamp oil typically you can find all of these at any hardware store for just a couple bucks as usual hollow out the light bulb carefully get all the debris out and fill up your lamp with oil about halfway no need to go overboard grab your wick and if one end in and get it nice and soaked pull it out and slide the other side in as well this way you’re going to get full coverage on the wick and it’ll spark up nicely.

Now let’s give it a test and see over cooking with whoa quite intense well of course mellow out after a few minutes and you can use it as an ice emergency light or simply to add some cooled a quart of your pad that being said I want to thank audible.com for supporting us so that we can put these crazy projects together for you to try yourselves recently I checked out the science of everyday life why teapots dribble toast burns and light bulb shine it’s written by Marty Johnson I think it’s right up my fans alley so if you want to up your science game you could download this audiobook for free if you go to audible.com slash household and sign up to try the service I love listening to audiobooks when I commute or if I have travel coming up or sometimes if I’m just doing chores around the house. I hope you found the information about Recycling Old Light Bulbs and that you can make good use of that information.