Make A Garden Chandelier. Bring Bling To The Garden.

Bring Some Bling To Your Garden

With a few items from your kitchen and thrift store, you’ll have what you need to make these pretty garden chandeliers.

My garden chandeliers were the first garden art I made for my garden and, after all these years, they are my still my favourites. I initially made them to add interest to my new, bare garden but I keep them now because they add some bling that creates a focal point and looks pretty year round.

It will depend on your luck finding supplies, but they shouldn’t cost more than $15 to $20 to make. Mine were all less than $10. Projects like this are a great way to make use of odd items that would otherwise end up in the landfill. Rusty colander? I’ll take it! Tacky old crystal (or imitation) chandelier in the trash? Grab it!

 Here’s the basic parts: 

Chandelier Parts

The point of making garden art from old stuff is to use what you have or can find in the garbage or cheap at a thrift shop. Don’t get hung up on finding a particular part: let serendipity guide you and adapt to what you find. There’s so many possibilities!

• Metal kitchen colanders and metal lamp shades make an excellent base. I look for anything that has holes already in it and seems sturdy, this way I can thread wire through the holes to hang the beads, marbles and crystals.
• Round and flat-bottom marbles Use an outdoor silicone sealant such as GE Silicone II Clear Sealant or an adhesive like Weldbond to attach flat-bottomed marbles to the colander. I also wrap round marbles in wire to create my own dangling crystals.
• Beads Check thrift shops for bags of glass, crystal, plastic, and wooden beads.
• Old lamp crystals These can really range in price. I found some of mine in the garbage on an old, ugly, 1970’2 lamp but they also show up on eBay for ridiculously (high) prices. If you can’t find any, substitute with beads or old necklace parts or anything else that will catch the light and add the colour you want.
• Wire The lower the gauge number, the thicker the wire. I use 16-20 gauge wire. Quality can really vary. I try to find something that won’t snap when I twist it. You want it strong enough to endure wet and snowy weather but not so thick that it looks bulky.
• Copper Wire Copper has become quite expensive these days, however, sometimes people get rid of things like old copper tubes that were used for water lines to refrigerators. I take them when I see them in the garbage. Copper wire works great for wrapping marbles because it’s thick but flexible.
• Adhesive Outdoor adhesives have become really good in recent years. I like  GE Silicone II Clear Sealant and Weldbond. Decide whether you want to work with a caulking gun or squeeze tube. Caulking gun tubes tend to be much less expensive overall and they’re not really guns, people! They’re dispensers, really.

Where I find garden art/junk parts

•  My home or yours
• My mom’s home
• Garbage day
• Thrift shops
• Dollar stores (for marbles and wire)
• Habitat ReStore
• Yard sales
• Auction sales
• Kijiji and Craigslist ads (you can place your own free want ads too)

Tools you may need

If you make your own garden bling, I’d love to see it. Send me a photo if you’d like to share your project with the Empress of Dirt readers.

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