....tutorial
I had my heart set on some cage lights for our bedroom, but they come with a hefty price tag, so I thought I'd try to DIY one... Inspired by this rustic looking industrial cage light, today I want to share with you all how I made mine for a fraction of the price...
YOU WILL NEED:
copper wire (£4.99, Clas Ohlson
lamp holder with flex (£10, Clas Ohlson)
wire cutters
Pliers
Drill
Cut the copper wire into 8-9 lengths of ca.70cm
Because the copper wire is so soft, it is quite hard to work with in this state (and will also look quite messy), so to solve this I used my drill to twist the wire:
Fold each length in half.....
...place the ends of each length of wire in your drill and tighten ...
hook the wire onto a nail or screw in a wall.
Pulling the wire taut, gently squeeze the drill so that the wire twists...
Repeat on all the lengths.
Not only does this look nice, but it makes the wire more rigid and easier to work with.
ASSEMBLING THE WIRE CAGE
Start by looping a piece of wire around the base of your lamp holder. Pull tight.
Snip the wire and use pliers to squeeze the ends together.
Make a larger ring in the same way.
Next, you need to make sure you have 4 lengths, exactly the same...
Trim using your wire cutters.
Make a soft bend, halfway on each of the lengths, then tread it trough the little ring on the lamp base..
It will help if you have the bulb ring attached to the lamp base at this stage, to hold your little wire ring in place...
Bend the ends of the long wire lengths around the big ring..
Continue with all 4 lengths, crossing them over each other as you go along...Adjust the positioning as needed!
This can be a bit fiddly, I'm not gonna lie!
When you have wrestled the wires into shape, its time to put the final, lets call them "petal-shapes" on the bottom.... Take a length of the twisted wire and attach it to the big ring, squeeze with your pliers to hold in place. Then bend the wire and loop it around again to create the "petals"..
I used 2 lengths to get around the big ring...
screw in your light bulb! (The old fashioned Edison-bulbs looks nice!!)
That's it...your copper wire cage light is done...
I hung mine from an IKEA shelf bracket...(I had to drill holes in the bracket and remove the plug on the flex before threading through)
(The "be gentle with yourself" print is a free downloadable from Persia Lou )
I love the way this turned out: Minimalistic and industrial cage light...for a fraction of the price!!
Making another for the other side of the bed as well.
The Edison bulbs are not cheap, at £5 each, but worth it for their warm glow...don't you think??
How about it then: DIY your own for £15...or spend upwards of £50 for one??
xxx
June
