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

As you may see from this picture that I confirmed you yesterday, on that backside row of metallic I had stored the identical spacing (i.e., the identical 5/8″ measurement) between the metallic 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 grew to become an issue once I began bending that backside row of rods up. It regarded messy, uneven, and unplanned.

So yesterday, I knew I wanted to redo that entire row. However I already drilled holes by the metallic, so I wanted to determine how to try this. After eradicating these metallic rods (which took fairly a little bit of brute power and sheer willpower since they had 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 metallic piece. I attempted to get it as excellent as potential earlier than the epoxy clay dried, after which when it was utterly dry, I used 100-grit sandpaper to easy it out.

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

As soon as I had that row of metallic rods in place and secured, I used a 1-inch wooden dowel rod to bend that row up, similar to I had used an empty quart paint container, and a sprig paint can for the primary two rows. I’ve to confess that I used to be fairly happy with how this entire body turned out. I do know it appears like a large number proper now, since there aren’t any flowers, and the entire thing is an unsightly coloration. However simply think about the flowers hooked up and the entire thing painted white.

I used to be additionally involved in regards to 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 positive 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 gentle 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 need them a bit extra staggered as a substitute of getting 16 flowers across the backside which might be the very same peak.

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 can be about right here…

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

After watching plenty of movies on how you can make flowers with varied varieties of media, I had just about decided that air dry clay could be the most suitable choice for this chandelier. However since I’ve tons of of wooden tasting spoons available, I assumed I’d attempt these out first. These had 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 searching for. So I attempted gluing them extra upright, however once more, for the reason that spoons are so flat, they usually’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, they usually all regarded really easy, so I used to be pretty assured that I might do that.

Nicely, this was an entire mess. In my humble opinion (although I’ve by no means used air dry clay earlier than), this product is means too moist. It caught to every part! 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 individual after individual 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 special model of air dry clay. Or possibly I have to go together with an oven-baked clay. I don’t actually know. I’m feeling a bit out of my component right here. I solely have a tiny little bit of expertise with clay, and it’s been years since I’ve tried any form of challenge with an oven-baked clay. However I do keep in mind it being quite a bit simpler to work with than this, and it didn’t persist with every part it touched.

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