There’s still life in a liquor bottle even after it’s been polished off. Whitney Galloway transforms them into custom lamps, using the bottle as the base and finding a unique shade to complete the look. While it’s still just a side gig for now, Galloway said she’s honored by the quick growth in demand for her custom creations.
Galloway has lived in Owensboro her whole life, graduating from Owensboro High School in 2014 and from Brescia University in 2018. She works full-time at Girls, Inc., and makes the lamps as a hobby.
Galloway made her first lamp in September of 2021.
“My best friend’s grandma gave me a couple awesome Old Rip Van Winkle bottles and I thought it would be really cool to turn them into a lamp,” she said. “One of those bottles was the perfect Christmas gift idea for someone in my family so I started doing some research on lamp making and decided to just go for it. I blew the breaker in my house at least 14 times and had to call my dad several times before finally getting the hang of it, but it’s been so fun.”
Galloway said the response has been “absolutely incredible” and that it’s been fun to see everyone’s reactions to her creations.
“Even when people just share my posts on Facebook or Instagram I get so excited,” she said. “This has been such a good creative outlet for me and it makes it even more amazing that other people are kind of following along. After posting my first couple of lamps, I immediately had people reach out to see if I could turn bottles that are special to them into a lamp, and I just think that is such a huge honor.”
Galloway usually starts by choosing the bottle she wants to use first to “kind of see what vibe the bottle gives off.” Most of her bottles are empty bourbon/whiskey/wine bottles, but she has made a lamp out of a Jim Beam Decanter and a unique vase.
Once she’s chosen the bottle, Galloway does the manual labor. That consists of drilling the hole in the glass, cutting and staining the wood base, wiring the lamp, filling the lamp with fire glass, and making sure everything is secured together. Once all that is finished, it’s time to try and pull it all together with the shade.
“Finding a lamp shade is probably the hardest part because the colors, shape, and size all need to be just right for it to work out,” Galloway said. “If I have the perfect shape and color shade but it’s four times the size of the bottle, it’s not going to work out.”
Galloway gets bottle contributions from several people, including her. She said many have also come from Brasher’s Lil’ Nashville. Most of the lamp shades Galloway has used so far were flea market finds, though she has bought a few off of Amazon for some specific commissions.
There isn’t much of a “shop” for people to purchase from at this point, but it’s something Galloway is working on.
“I told myself I wasn’t going to start posting until I had a selection for people to shop from but I got impatient and wanted to share my hobby with people so I caved and started posting,” she said. “So right now I don’t have much of a selection of pre-made lamps but I do plan on just making some for people to shop from. However, I have had several people ask for commissions so that may be where a lot of my time outside of work goes right now.”
People can follow Galloway’s lamp journey on Facebook and Instagram at @whitneyslampshop.
