Part 2 – DIY Flower Chandelier – Victory & (Temporary) Defeat

As you may see from this photograph that I confirmed you yesterday, on that backside row of steel I had stored the identical spacing (i.e., the identical 5/8″ measurement) between the steel rods that I used on the highest higher rows. However that resulted within the backside row of rods not being evenly spaced between the 2 higher rows of rods. And this turned an issue once I began bending that backside row of rods up. It appeared messy, uneven, and unplanned.

So yesterday, I knew I wanted to redo that entire row. However I already drilled holes by way of the steel, so I wanted to determine how to try this. After eradicating these steel rods (which took fairly a little bit of brute power and sheer willpower since they have been held in place with JB Weld), I then used extra JB Weld epoxy clay to cowl over the holes that I had already drilled, ensuring to push the clay into these holes as I molded it across the backside steel piece. I attempted to get it as excellent as doable earlier than the epoxy clay dried, after which when it was fully dry, I used 100-grit sandpaper to clean it out.

This gave me a brand new base into which I might drill the brand new holes, after which I re-inserted the steel rods and held them into place utilizing tremendous glue. It really labored fairly effectively!

As soon as I had that row of steel rods in place and secured, I used a 1-inch wooden dowel rod to bend that row up, identical to I had used an empty quart paint container, and a twig paint can for the primary two rows. I’ve to confess that I used to be fairly pleased with how this entire body turned out. I do know it appears like a multitude proper now, since there are not any flowers, and the entire thing is an unpleasant shade. However simply think about the flowers connected and the entire thing painted white.

I used to be additionally involved concerning the total measurement, however as soon as I introduced it into the closet and set it on the island, my concern went away. I feel it’s going to be the proper measurement!

I do plan to trim the rods down. I wasn’t certain how tall I needed the tallest rods (stems) to be, however I feel these are too tall for a closet.

Additionally, I apologize for the poor lighting in these footage, however this chandelier is the primary mild in the entire chain of lighting within the closet, so with out it there, not one of the others on this swap will work. 😀

I additionally don’t plan to maintain all the rods on that backside row all the identical size. I would like them a bit extra staggered as a substitute of getting 16 flowers across the backside which might be the very same top.

So I’ll hold eight of them the peak they’re now, after which I’ll reduce the opposite eight down about 2-3 inches, so these eight will probably be about right here…

After which I’ll modify the heights of all the remainder of the rods from there.

After watching numerous movies on tips on how to make flowers with varied kinds of media, I had just about decided that air dry clay can be the best choice for this chandelier. However since I’ve tons of of wooden tasting spoons readily available, I believed I’d attempt these out first. These have been a fail. The spoons aren’t curved sufficient. Since they’re so flat, it’s exhausting to get them right into a flower form. I attempted gluing them to one another like this, however you may see how flat that made the flower form.

That’s under no circumstances what I’m in search of. So I attempted gluing them extra upright, however once more, for the reason that spoons are so flat, and so they’re wooden, so I can’t bend them in any respect, that didn’t work out both.

So I went to Michael’s and bought some Craftsmart air dry clay. I had already watched a number of movies on making flowers with air dry clay, and so they all appeared really easy, so I used to be pretty assured that I might do that.

Properly, this was an entire mess. In my humble opinion (despite the fact that I’ve by no means used air dry clay earlier than), this product is approach too moist. It caught to all the pieces! I couldn’t get it off of my palms.

And after making an attempt to roll it flat between two items of plastic wrap, simply as I noticed particular person after particular person doing within the movies I watched, it was so sticky that it wouldn’t come off of the plastic wrap.

So each of these experiments failed. I’m considering I simply have to attempt a distinct model of air dry clay. Or perhaps I have to go along with an oven-baked clay. I don’t actually know. I’m feeling a bit out of my aspect right here. I solely have a tiny little bit of expertise with clay, and it’s been years since I’ve tried any type of challenge with an oven-baked clay. However I do bear in mind it being lots simpler to work with than this, and it didn’t follow all the pieces it touched.

If in case you have any expertise with clays, I’d like to know what you assume! Is there a greater model of air dry clay that I must be utilizing? Ought to I am going with an oven-baked clay? Is there one other product that I haven’t considered (or don’t learn about) that might be simpler for sculpting flowers? Inform me what you assume.