Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Wax Paper Capiz Shell Tabletop Chandelier

Pin ItI've been seeing lots of chandeliers made of faux capiz shells out in blogland
 with some made out of wax paper, plastic cups, laminated rice paper,
 even wax paper mod podged onto parchment paper.

I figured I can do that and so, I did!

 I chose a $2 thrist store tabletop lamp for the bookcase in our hallway.


And I love the way this came out!


It has a soft glow, great texture and a bit of movement when you walk by.
 Even The Welding Man likes it, he says it reminds him of a wedding dress. :o)


I took two lamp shades from my stash and removed the covers. I knew I wanted the rings to be larger at the top and smaller at the bottom. So I wired them together and even added another ring with craft wire secured with florist wire.

 What is needed is a sturdy shape with at least two different sized rings to hold your fake shells in layers.

After a coat of white spray paint I flipped it over and got all my fake capiz shell circles ready.


Dollar Store wax paper, baby!!

Next I made the wax paper "shells." I used a dry iron on cotton and put
 parchment paper on the bottom between the ironing board and wax paper.

Four sheets torn off close to the same size melt together nicely
and make a good, stiff 4 ply sheet. Let the wax paper cool then start punching.
 I found my punches did best with 4 sheets of 4 ply wax paper,
 your punch might do better with more or less.

I used a 2" and an 1 3/4" circle punch. I figured I needed about 400 circles total,
plus I cut a few extra in case of mistakes or design changes.

I sewed my circles together using my machine's longest stitch and placed 9 circles on each "run."
 I sewed several sets of nine together in a single sitting with about three inches
of thread between each set. I cut them apart into sets
 of nine and started assembling.

I wound the thread from one set of circles twice around the middle ring and put a dab of hot glue over the thread. I placed each string of circles about 1" apart.

For the top ring I let six of the circles on a string hang down outside
and folded the other three over inside the frame, using a dab of hot glue
 on the thread at the top. This gave the upper half of the lamp a fluffier look
 and more visual "weight."


Extra circles folded in half and hot glued around the upper ring give the lamp a finished look.


As you can see, the stitched circles diffuse the light and overlap nicely, giving a nice soft glow to the evening. During the day they give that corner a bit of reflected light and nice texture.


I am already thinking ahead to doing this with my dining room light. Maybe with a little color and a bit of glitter? When I figure it out and make it I'll be posting right here.

19 comments:

  1. Wow! I love how it glows. So pretty :)

    ~ Emily N. from "too Blessed to Stress"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow Ann, this is GORGEOUS! You actually MADE this? I'm pretty sure the chandelier we RENTED for a tent at one of our pre-wedding parties was so similar to this, although probably not nearly as nice :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great job on the lamp. I too have been admiring the tutorials across blog land, but this is the first one I've seen for a lamp. And I think I'm loving the idea of a lamp more that a room light.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow! I looove that lamp! It's completely gorgeous! You've totally inspired me to try my own. I'd love a lovely lamp that made beautiful noises when I passed by! XO PS Thanks for the nice comment on my blog. Please stop by again!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow that is so beautiful! You did an amazing job!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This looks amazing you are so talented. So nice to meet you and link up just found your beautiful blog so happy I did. I have enjoyed looking around and I'm now following you, wonderful to meet new friends. Hope you find a spare minute to visit me sometime follow back if you like. I’m looking forward to keeping in touch in 2012.

    Always Wendy

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow... you never cease to amaze.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You are amazing! This turned out so nice. I wanted a lamp like that & I remember seeing one at Pier 1 for over $100+ When can you come to my house! lol ;) Thanks for linking up you never stop amazing me. xo

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've been trying to punch out waxed paper circles and am getting a shredded mess -- Ironing a few sheets together is brilliant! I may not make the lamp, but I will be ironing waxed paper - thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Cute! If I could sew, I would totally try it for my entry way!

    ReplyDelete
  11. L.O.V.E. it!!! It looks fabulous! I'm adding this to my list of things I want to create!

    Found you on Flamingo Toes
    Visiting from Well Rounded, leahkoenig.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Excellent job! this is so cool-am pinning and want to try this. Thanks for sharing! p.s. happy new follower :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. So cute! I would LOVE if you linked this up to my Monday link party!

    XO! Kathryn
    destinationcraft.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. This looks great. I am seeing these everywhere! I have got to give it a try. Great job!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love it! Great idea to use a table lamp that you already had, and just modify the shade frame. I like how you finished off the top - maybe I'll do something similar with my capiz chandelier.

    Your idea to use crayon wax to add colour might work. I've seen a tutorial using silver spray paint on some of the sheets of wax paper to add more shimmer/sheen. I wonder if stamp reinker or food colouring would work if you brush it onto the wax paper very thinly and then put that sheet in the middle of the stack for ironing. Hmmmmm... now I want to try that method to see if it works, but I don't have anywhere else to hang another capiz chandelier!

    Kelly

    ReplyDelete
  16. I loved this so much that I made mine from old book pages. I just had to blog about it. Thank you so so so much for sharing this.
    http://galleryfiftyeight.blogspot.de/2012/11/six-hundred-circles-and-some.html

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks for sharing this again! I still haven't made mine. But, I love it so! Hope you can drop by again this week to the party @ DearCreatives.com

    ReplyDelete

I love your comments and read every one. They let me know if I'm on a good track with my blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Book Page Christmas DIY

Most of you have figured out I am a color freak with an obsession  for turquoise, red and cobalt blue.  However, I also obsess about ...