Monday, December 5, 2011

Make: miniature crystal chandeliers

Inspired by all the amazing chandeliers dangling low from the high ceilings of ABC Carpet & Home here in New York City, I created miniature crystal light fixtures to hang over the long banquette tables sashaying the loft space where my wedding was held. They are fairly straight forward and simple to make and add a delicate sparkle to any space; I have a few in my bedroom now- makes nice mood lighting ;).

Here's how they were made:
1. Use lamp plates/bobesches as the fixture to hang the crystal strands. Drill holes along the edge with a Dremel drill to hang each strand from. I evenly spaced seven holes around the 3" round plate.

2. Spray paint the front and back of the plate white.

3. Create strands of crystals with wire using the basic wire wrapped link beading technique. I used 6 oval Swarovski crystal beads per strand finishing each off with a crystal tear drop, all connected used an oxidized silver wire.

4. You can make your own jump rings by coiling wire around a pencil, removing it and snipping into individual rings with wire cutters.

5. Use the jump rings to connect the crystal strands to the lamp plate where you drilled the holes.

6. Wiring the light fixture is fairly easy. A wire stripper tool is helpful to remove the plastic around the wire cording.

7. I used porcelain sockets for the fixture and cloth covered lamp cord. Remember to put the crystalized plate on the cord before you wire it all together!

8. Finally, add the plug to make your mini chandelier electric!
Look how pretty!


3 comments:

  1. I can't believe that's home made. It's so pretty. I was looking at a mini chandelier that looks really similar to this one...and this doesn't seem too hard to make. Thanks for this post...it's a great idea and a beautiful product!

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  2. Greetings! Veгy helpful advіce within this post!
    It's the little changes that make the most significant changes. Many thanks for sharing!

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    ReplyDelete