Yesterday I tweeted this video, in which a bottle is neatly divided by tying a string around it, igniting the string, and plunging the bottle into cold water. The thermal shock causes the heated portion to fracture, producing a surprisingly clean break.

I'm in the market for some cheap candleholders, you see. I ordered a bunch of votive candles yesterday for the Halloween party, but getting glass holders would have drastically increased the shipping cost, so Emily and I decided to improvise. Something a bit less uniformly shaped will probably look creepier, too.

Cut beer bottles are an appealing option, since we produce those at a much faster clip than we do, say, tiny perfectly-shaped food jars. This page seems to be a pretty definitive clearinghouse of information on how to cut bottles. Even though the author expressed skepticism about it, the burning string method sounded appealing to me. Or cheap, anyway.

Well, I gave it a shot yesterday. Eventually, it worked:

It took about ten attempts, though. It does seem like the sort of thing that, with practice, could be mastered. What made the difference for me was banging the bottle into the sink's bottom as I plunged it into the water. But it didn't work when I tried it again with another bottle, and at that point I gave up.

There are other problems with the method, too. You'll need to wear gloves and eye protection, of course, and work in a ventilated area, which can be a pain to find and set up. On my successful attempt the top of the bottle shattered, which was contained by the water but still not fun to clean up. Acetone isn't all that pleasant a thing to work with, and will inevitably get on your gloves, requiring you to take them off before lighting the string. Alternately you can keep a candle burning from which to light the string, as I did, but then you'll have to be sure to keep it clear of the acetone. And of course you still might light your gloves on fire if you aren't careful.

In short: it doesn't work that well, and it's kind of a pain in the ass. I think we'll be pestering friends to save jars after all.