I'm a great boy mom. Despite the fact that I am a licensed hairstylist and have been known to sport 6" heels from time to time, I'm really not a girly-girl. When it comes to raising kids, I do much better with mudpies and monsters than glitter and emotions.
That being said, every once in a while, usually after browsing through Pinterest, I get this tiny girly spark inside me. It was during one of these moments when I decided I needed to make my own chandelier; complete with glitter and crystals.
The awesome part of this project is that you can make it as large or small as you want, and in just about any design your little heart comes up with. My finished chandelier ended up about 20" across. Here's what I used:
- 1- StyroCutter® Plus
- 2- 1/2" Make It: Fun® Foam 12″x36″ sheets
- 1- tub of Smooth Finish
- *Rust-Oleum Metallic Gold Spray Paint
- *Rust-Oleum Gold Glitter Spraypaint
- Acrylic crystal table scatter
- 24 Gauge Gold Color Craft Wire
- 3- Acrylic Round Faceted Beads Clear (10 Pieces)
A chandelier silhouette is pretty easy to find online. I downloaded this one, then I went to rasterbator.net to blow it up. I saved the enlarged image and printed it out on cardstock.
Depending on your particular chandelier, to cut out the image you may need to use an exact-o knife, or you might be able to get away with a good pair of scissors.
To join two pieces of the image, I made sure to leave a little tab on one side of the chandelier image.
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For reinforcement, I taped the front and back of each seam and once I was done, this is what I had. You may have to adjust your pieces to get the whole image aligned and even.
I then covered the back of my image with duct tape and secured it to my first Make It: Fun® Foam sheet.
Now it was time to cut- the fun part. All I had to do was trace the chandelier template with the cutter and this is what I got. Make sure to not force the cutter. Just let it do the work for you.
To allow each piece of the chandelier to fit together, I cut a 1/2" wide notch, half the height of the image. Make sure to cut one from the top and one from the bottom.
Now I had my basic shape, it was time to make it pretty. I followed the same steps as I did in my faux gear tutorial, coating the rough foam with two coats of Smooth Finish. I'll be honest, this point it looks terrifying. All lumps and bumps.
Fortunately, some sandpaper and a little elbow grease smoothed it out greatly.
Here's how they looked all sanded down.
This is where the girly spark in me started to flicker. I gave both halves of the chandelier a coat of gold spray paint and a coat of glitter paint. Once dry, I slid both pieces together.
For the last step, I wanted to add some bling. I grabbed a cheap bag of acrylic table scatter, a few strands of jewelry beads, and some gold colored jewelry wire. To be able to string the acrylic jewels on the wire I needed to drill a small hole in each one. I may or may not have broken two drill bits in the process. Try not to be overzealous and they actually drill quite easily.
Not having a cute little girl's room to hang my new masterpiece, I called up a good friend and went to her house.
The nice thing about the structure of the chandelier being made of foam is that it is quite light weight. I was able to hang mine with a bit of fishing line. It also was really easy to push the wire through the arms to hang each string of jewels.
Here's the final product.
And here is my adorable little friend who volunteered her room. The chandelier is great, but look at that little face!
I love how versatile this project is! Seriously, you can make just about anything with some foam and a foam cutter. Stop by makeitfun.com for some ideas.
I would love to see what one of my talented readers could come with, so guess what? I am giving away a StyroCutter® Plus and one tub of Smooth Finish! Fill out the Raffelcopter below for chances to win. Just make sure you send me a photo of whatever awesomness you come up with if you win!
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Nice!!
ReplyDeleteThis is such an awesome idea! who would have thought Foam would make such a cute Chandelier knock off. Great outside the box thinking
ReplyDeleteThanks Virginia!
DeleteWhat a fabulous and creative project! I think I'd really like to try and make some monograms, maybe a family crest type of icon too! So many possibilities!!
ReplyDeletep.s.: there seem to be a couple of hiccups with the html in the entry widget above - a few links have "http//" twice which is blocking the links from working.
Thanks for this fun opportunity and introducing me to a great new tool!
Thanks Jennifer! I got the kinks figured out. Monograms were on my list of ideas too! You should give it a shot.
DeleteThis is one of the most ingenious ideas I've seen in a long time. I would love to create 2 sconces for my daughters' bedroom. We are about to move them into 1 large playroom and it would be awesome to have 1 each to the side of their bed. Can't wait to try it out.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Staci! I kind wish I had a little girl just so I could hang this in her room. Have fun with the sconces! I'm sure they will be awesome.
DeleteThis is so fun! I would make one for my daughter, and it also solves a problem for an event I am helping with, we are doing a wedding chapel room for an after prom party, and we were needing a light weight chandelier! Brilliant, thanks Elisha!
ReplyDeleteThis is fabulous -- what a lucky little girl! You did a beautiful job on this gorgeous, glittering chandelier, Elisha. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis is such an original idea! I can totally see this in my daughters room or maybe make a few for a really fun and fancy party. I will need to do that! Thanks for the really great tutorial! Pinned!
ReplyDeleteVery pretty!! I could totally use some ceiling bling in our new home. Thanks for linking up to The Creative Circle. :)
ReplyDeleteSuch a genius idea!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lucky little lady! I've been wanting a chandelier above my soaker tub but don't want to change the wiring... I wonder how this would hold up with a little humidity?! Thanks for linking up at The Creative Circle! I hope you'll join us again this week!
ReplyDeleteLove this!!! I can't find the smooth finish anywhere. Please help!
ReplyDelete