Condo Blues: How to Make a Wine Glass Chandelier

Thursday, July 17, 2008

How to Make a Wine Glass Chandelier

I’m on the hunt for a pendent fixture for my dining room. There are so many designs (and subsequent price tags) to choose from to get the Mid-century-Bauhaus -Contemporary-Found-And-Funkified-Retro- DaDa-Danish style (bonus points to you if you know that DaDa is a design movement and not just what babies call their fathers) that I’m going for in The Condo. I found a fun overhead pendant light in the Chandelini. I love that it’s a ball of martini glasses – a fun addition to any room in the house.


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However as much as I love the Chandelini right now I’m not sure if this is a piece that I’d love forever. At $6000.00, I know that Husband would insist that I love it forever.




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Well, shoot. If I can't have an expensive wine glass chandelier for my dining room, I figured that I could make one a less expensive inspired by design out of orphan wine glasses for my craft room.


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How to Make a Hanging Lamp from Wine Glasses



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Materials
1 sturdy curtain ring
15 stemmed glasses (I used a combination of wine, water, sherry, and old style champagne glasses)
Fishing line
Scissors
Jeweler’s crimp beads
Needle nose pliers (for crimping the beads shut)
A hanging lamp kit
Small lamp shade
Heavy cord or zip tie
A chair or door knob

1. Use the heavy cord or zip tie to attach the sturdy curtain ring to a chair or doorknob. This will keep the hanging wineglasses from tangling as you work.

2. Cut the fishing line into 15 various lengths with the scissors.

3. Tie a length of fishing line to the heavy curtain ring.


4. Slip a crimp bead onto the open end of the fishing line. Use
the pliers to crimp the bead around the knot to hold the knot into place.

5. Slide a crimp bead onto the open end of the fishing line.

6. Tie the open end of the fishing line (with the crimp bead still threaded on it) to the stem of a wineglass.

7. Use the pillars to crimp the bead around the knot and hold it into place at the base of the wineglass.

8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 until you have all of the wineglasses attached to the curtain ring.

9. Remove the paper cover from the small lampshade to reveal the wire lampshade frame.

10. Install the hanging light according to the directions that are in the hanging lamp kit.

11. Untie or cut the curtain ring and hanging glasses from the chair or doorknob.

12. Hang the curtain ring on the ceiling hook that you installed as part of the hanging lamp kit and arrange the wineglasses around the hanging light fixture.

13. Screw a low voltage light bulb into the lamp. A compact fluorescent light bulb is an excellent choice because CFLs are low voltage as well as energy efficient.

14. Clip the lampshade frame to the underside of the hanging light bulb. This will keep the light bulb in the center of the wineglass cluster.

15. Turn on the light and admire the view!



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15 comments :

Deb DiSalvo said...

That's amazing - it looks so awesome! Great job!
Cheers,
Deb

Almost Mrs Average said...

Wow, that's gorgeous. I now want one...I'd better get busy ;-D

Julia @ Hooked on Houses said...

This is very cool. What a clever idea!!

Crafts a la Mode said...

You are the best!! Very ingenious to make one yourself. Thanks for sharing this with all blogdom. Linda

Nikki said...

$6,000.00?!?!?!?!??!?! I like your creative ingenuity MUCH better! Thanks for linking this up to gettin' crafty on hump day! :)

Jana said...

What a fun idea! Thanks for linking up at Giggles, Glitz & Glam!

Its So Very Cheri said...

Now that is pretty clever.

I am visiting from the CSI project. I am numbers 86,87,88, and 89.

Cheri from www.itssoverycheri.com and www.thediyclub.com

AllieMakes! said...

Very Cool! But the hubs is right at 6Gs! Must. Love. Forever. Great ingenuity!
Thanks for linking up to Making It With Allie! I can't wait to see what you have for next week!
AllieMakes.Blogspot.com

Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage said...

I like your idea of using orphaned glasses and making your own, as opposed to spending a whopping $6,000.00 on one. Great job!

Thanks for linking to the party.

Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

LC said...

This is a fantastic idea, but, fishing line degrades over time, so if this is intended to last longer than, say a year, I would use tiger tail to attach the wine glasses. Tiger tail is plastic coated wire for making jewelery and would last longer and be safer.

Hyphen Interiors said...

Wow!! I LOVE this. Thanks for sharing how to make it.

Unknown said...

Wow! Now that's a chandy I've never seen before! I love it when people suprise me with creativity! Thanks for sharing! ~ Kim

breanna said...

super chick! except...how'm i gonna drink my wine now?

Unknown said...

Oh wow what fun! And totally genius!

Heather - Dollarstorecrafts.com said...

Linking to this cool project on Dollar Store Crafts on 11/3. URL will be: http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2011/11/diy-wine-glass-chandelier/

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