Hang your chandelier at a safe distance from a tree or large umbrella.
String beaded chain through wire looped around top of jar.
Fill jars with sand or small pebbles to weigh them down.
By Michelle Kaufmann
Outdoor entertaining is one of the highlights of summer, so make your evening gatherings even brighter by adding the soft, eco-friendly candlelight of a glass garden chandelier.
This beautiful, energy-efficient fixture is a wonderful way to reuse any little glass jars you have laying around your kitchen. Yogurt jars are perfect, but baby food jars and other small glass jars will work just as well. This is also a great way to reuse a circular gridded cooling rack if you have an old one. If not, just pick one up at your local kitchen supply store. Besides the jars and rack, all you’ll need is some wire – both a thick and thin gauge – some beaded chain, and one big S hook as well as a dozen or so little ones.
VIDEO: See how to make this eco-friendly chandelier >>
To make your own:
1. Begin by making sure all your jars and any other reused materials are well washed. For this project, you’ll probably want 10 to 12 jars, maybe more, depending on how you want to arrange the chandelier and where you plan to hang it.
2. Turn your cooling rack over. At the center, crisscross two lengths of the thicker gauge wire and loop the ends though the feet on the rack, securing them by twisting or using wire crimps.
3. At the point where the two wires cross, attach the large S hook again by twisting or with a wire crimp. Be sure the lengths of wire are even so your chandelier will hang level from the hook.
4. Take the thinner wire and begin twisting lengths of it around the tops of all your jars, just under the lip for the lid. Go around each one three or four times and then twist the ends around the wrapped portion to secure.
5. Using wire cutters, snip varying lengths of beaded chain, twice the length you want the jars to hang from the top of your chandelier. This is a good point to start thinking about how you will want to hang your jars, whether randomly or in a pattern such as a spiral or concentric circles.
6. Loop one piece of beaded chain through the thin wire surrounding one glass jar and secure the ends together with locking links. Repeat with all jars.
7. Fill each jar with sand or small pebbles so they’ll be weighed down once you hang them. Add a votive candle to each and push the candle down so it settles into the sand or pebbles.
8. Select a location for your chandelier and hang the rack, avoiding any place with low hanging brush that could catch fire. Then take the small S hooks and begin hanging your candle-filled jars.
9. Hang them in the pattern of your choosing, being careful to keep the weight balanced. Just before your guests arrive, light the candles with a long lighter.
Download a pdf of these directions from Michelle Kaufmann's blog >>
Get other simple, stylish green-it-yourself ideas from Michelle Kaufmann >>
Provided by Michelle Kaufmann - http://www.michellekaufmann.com
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