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.

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.

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.

How to Make a Hanging Lamp from Wine Glasses

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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