Make Miniature Chairs From Champagne Cages

It's that time of year again. At the stroke of midnight, miniaturists everywhere will be passing up the champagne and searching out the wire cage and the cork. Why? The annual Design Within Reach Champagne Chair Contest is open for entries. If you've ever wondered what dedicated miniaturists can do with a bare minimum of materials, check out previous winners on the Design Within Reach Website, or view the Champagne Chair Gallery on Business Week. You can use glue, and anything from two champagne bottles except the glass. You have until January 09, 2009 to get your entries in digitally. This year's prize is a Morgans chair (in full size!)

If you'd rather hang onto a memory of this year's champagne, or create a matched set of chairs as place card holders for a coming event, you can create a basic patio chair from a single champagne cage following these basic champagne chair instructions. If you have a beer budget, don't worry. There are some beer bottles with these styles of cage on them as well, they just don't have the prestigious names on the caps.

Photo copyright 2008 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.