I was pretty happy with my self-pouring Coke bottle, but two people that saw the photo pointed out that using a local beer in portfolio would be even better. So I gave it a shot.
First I went to the liquor store, but since most of the bottles were packaged in a way that I could not see the actual bottles to find out if they were scratched or not. So I gave up and went to Lighthouse Brewing Company. There, I talked to a nice lady who gave me three bottles of their Fisgard 150 beer. I did offer to pay, though.
On my way home, I stopped at a thrift store and found a beer glass with the Lighthouse logo. I paid only 75 cents for that.
When I got home I set up pretty much the same rig as last time (broomstick and broken table included). I glued a length of copper wire to the bottom of one bottle, and after a few tries (and some cursing and swearing) I finally managed to adjust the thin fishing string, tied to the bottle neck, to the correct length. Mind you, it’s far from easy, because it stretches quite a bit.
When I had adjusted everything pretty much the way I wanted it, I opened the bottle. That’s where I ran into a bit of trouble. On the plastic Coke bottle I didn’t have to worry about the fishing string sliding off, but on the glass bottle… Let’s just say that I was fortunate that I didn’t spill too much beer on the table when I pulled the copper wire (you know, the one I glued to the bottom of the bottle with the help of my trusty glue gun).
After wiping the table and the bottle I found some superglue. That was the only way to keep the fishing string on the bottle. Of course I managed to glue two of my fingers together in the process. As if that wasn’t bad enough, my wife’s niece, Sigga, sat there laughing her head off.
I readjusted the glass on the table, made sure the bottle was dry and without fingerprints, moved myself into position, took the trigger cable in one hand and the copper wire in the other. I pulled the wire, and then it happened. The glue went on strike.
At that point I was not a happy camper, especially with Sigga laughing even harder than before.
I tried gluing the wire to the bottle again, but it just wouldn’t stick. I ended up scraping the bottom of the bottle with sandpaper and then wiping it with rubbing alcohol. That did the trick.
After that, everything went according to plan.