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The Deal: Ingenious seltzer bottle accessories<br> on sale at Russell Johnson Imports through Thursday

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Fifteen years ago, on a trip to Buenos Aires, Russell Johnson encountered vintage seltzer bottles unlike any he’d ever seen. ‘It had a decorative tin sleeve to keep it from exploding if the bottle fell off a table,’ explains Johnson.

His friends in Los Angeles wanted to put them to use for cocktail-making. ‘I was not going to be responsible for pressurizing a 1930s Argentine seltzer bottle,’ says Johnson, the owner of Russell Johnson Imports, ‘but I thought if I could give them a function, how cool would that be?’

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In fact, he gave them many functions. His first creation was the Pendant Seltzer lamp, as shown in his own kitchen above. The lamps, available with clear, blue and green glass, normally cost $395 apiece. But through Thursday, he is offering L.A. at Home readers a 25% discount. That brings the price down to just over $295.

After cutting off the bottom of the seltzer bottles for the lamps, Johnson turned the remaining piece into a small dish that has many uses but truly shines as a candle votive. A set of three, normally $120, will be $90.

Cutting off the neck of some bottles, Johnson created a pop-in-the-freezer ice bucket and wine chiller, right, that also doubles as a utensil holder. ‘People with stainless steel appliances really go for them,’ says Johnson. Already reduced from $185 to $135, during the sale they will cost $101.25. Making the wine chillers left the resourceful Johnson with the sawed-off bottle necks. His solution was to pair the tops with the bottoms left over from the pendant lights to create a tagine-shaped vessel, bottom, that can be used as an incense burner or a bud vase (with only a small amount of water in the bottom half). These are marked down from $75 to $56.35.

The online store, which also sells vintage apothecary jars, refurbished 1950s telephones, Argentine leather rugs and one-of-a-kind finds, lists regular retail prices.

To get the 25% discount on the seltzer bottle pieces -- or everything else on the site that is in stock -- enter the discount code ‘DAISY’ at checkout.

-- David A. Keeps

Photo credits, from top: Russell Johnson, Keaton Johnson, Keaton Johnson.

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