The inspiration for my original wine barrel glassybaby holder came as I was trying to create a unique 5th anniversary present for my wife.  She is a lady of good taste (present company excluded), and has been lucky enough to receive a lot of glassybaby® votives for various occasions in her years in Seattle.

The wine barrel staves are locally sourced – although many had former lives in, or were imported from France – and part of the great appeal of working with these aged oak barrels, is the fact that they provide an opportunity to recycle the used wine barrel staves, and that they are all unique, with different depths of dark color penetration from the red wine they once held.

I have also created some wine barrel glassybaby holders with stainless steel pins that are using thinner staves held together with stainless steel pins.  Please email me at steve@seattlewoodwork.com if you are interested in either design.

This is the wine barrel glassybaby holder with the stainless steel pins, for a slightly more modern look. Each stave varies in thickness, so all will look slightly different to those pictured.

Wine barrel glassybaby holder as a Christmas mantelpiece design: