More Light on the Subject.....

First of all, I have to show you what Tessie made. She found a typesetter's drawer kit yesterday. Today she has a nice place to put all of Spike's collars, one for every day of the week.

She is very proud of her accomplishment. She has been making collars all week. I wondered what she was going to do with all of them.

Spike is very pleased, but not one of them has any spikes. I think he kind of misses those. Although it may be easier to lay down and take a doggy nap without them.

Now on to other business. A couple of days ago I noticed that Gina from More Minis had posted a question on the Greenleaf forum wanting to know about making chandeliers.

I thought to myself, I can do that. I haven't made one for a long time. I think that the last one was in the triple room box with the fancy kitchen, dining room and sunken living room. I wasn't really sure if I could remember how I did it. I decided to get to work and put one together and write instructions while I was doing it.

It is going to be a two day affair because I am going to be busy this afternoon. So.....Here goes.

First of all, you may not be able to find the exact same findings as the ones that I used. Not to worry. All you have to remember is the ones that you choose must have the same number of holes around the edge, whatever size they are. I used findings with 8 holes. Thus an 8 swagged chandelier. Here you see the top part of the fixture. I used a piece of #22gage brass wire for the center post. It is flexible, but will be straightened in the end.

I twisted a loop in the top of the wire with round nosed pliers. Then I threaded the three pieces that you see in the first photo and a round filagree ball(you don't have to have that piece), put a dab of E-6000 on them to keep them from sliding. Then i proceeded to string #11 seed beads on the center post to the length that I wanted the light to be when finished. I put on another of the small findings on then a larger finding with 8 sections on it, another of the small ones to keep it from wiggling and then did a loop in that end. I will put a dangle of some kind on that tomorrow.

After that I started adding swags from the top finding to the bottom one. You will have to experiment and see how many beads it will take to get from the top to the bottom. In my case, I used 6 bugles alternated with 5 of the #11 seed beads.

The way that you do this is, using #32 beading wire, String a 10 inch piece with 3 seed beads to use as a stop at the top. Push the two ends down through the hole and pull tightly. Give the wire a twist. You will then have a double wire to thread the rest of the beads on, going down to the bottom finding.

When you get the right number of beads on the double wire to make a graceful swag, poke the double wire through one of the holes at the bottom edge. You will want to choose one that sticks out the furthest. Pull the wires tight and bring them back up around the edge and wrap them twice around the wire just below the last bead and above the finding. Leave the tail. You will need that tomorrow.

This is what your chandelier should look like so far.....That is, It should have the same number of beads in every swag and the swag should be fastened to the bottom. Don't worry of the center wire isn't quite straight or the swags look kind of funny. They will be better tomorrow.

I'm sorry that I can't finish it today, but real life is interfering. Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story.

See you then.