360 individual castings assembled with 24 LED bulbs to make 48 x 18 inch chandelier:
view into dining room from entry hall
chandelier completed -- VERY difficult to photograph!
detail of lit chandelier (this is pretty close to the way it really looks, I guess)
Linda and I spent a pleasant couple of hours sculpting clay leaves at our kitchen table. We used knives and cookie cutters and pencils (this shot was taken after the leaves had been used to produce molds, so they are a bit damaged and cracked). OH! The modeling clay MUST be sulfur-free or the latex won't set up properly (learned the hard way -- YUCKY)!
Two-part liquid silicon rubber for mold making
closed up with surgical rubber tubing and ready to pour
030-Mold in plaster support
Silicone rubber mold with slit opening
molds in warming box -- polyester resin works best if molds are around 120 degrees F and kept warm during setting up. Polyester does not cure where exposed to air (surface stays tacky). It shrinks during cure, so castings thicker than about 1/8 inch tend to pull away from mold during cure leaving unattractive dull surfaces and, in extreme instances, surface tackiness. Warm molds help a lot! My space heater (low cost) solution worked well, but isn't recommended due to fire hazard!
empty and upside down 50 gallon drum gas welding station -- I welded three wires into each of 120 8-32 hex socket head machine screws
Screws lined up and ready for welding -- nut not only holds the screw rightside up, but also makes sure threads are functional after welding
E12 chandelier sockets with wires soldered on. Heat shrink tubing and small strain relief designed to snap into 1/16 inch housing
preparing to snap bulb pigtail into housing
SNAP! Makes a nice clean interface!
Cast leaves in various autumn colors in box
one of several boxes of castings
soldering up the power circuits -- step by step: 1) cut and strip wires to length 2) with heat shrink out of the way, connect the wires 3) solder 4) insulate with heat shrink
three wire stems welded to each screw
leaves glued to wire stems welded to screws
leaves
core partly assembled with leaves screwed into sides and lights top and bottom
lights on top of core assembly
core almost complete
view of nuts which fix stem screws to sides of core -- on front side, welds are visible
soldered up wiring fits neatly in trough of core
chandelier on dining table ready for installation -- each of 360 leaves must be carefully bent and arranged around lights and core
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Never thought I’d ever care how to build a light of any type.
I was mesmerized from start to finish…
VERY cool stuff.
JM