Please Read This Important Update!
***A Quick Note About Safety***
One of my readers reminded me that it is important not to take anything for granted. Please remember that you are working with wire and that it is going on an electrical appliance. Please make sure that when in use, the wire does not come in contact with the either the prongs or the socket. Unplug before changing the light bulb. If you have concerns about the safety you could glue the tree to the light cover which comes with the nightlight. Thank you.
In my last post I mentioned that I had been taken by the idea of lamp shades. What I really want to do is to do some silk painted shades, but I need to get some materials for that, so it will have to wait for a while. In the mean time, I also had some ideas for using glass beads to make a tree-like design for a lamp. I decided to do a proof of concept using a night-light. (A much smaller project.) I think it works rather well, but for a full sized table lamp, it’s going to take a lot of beads, and I think some heavier wire. I also thought I’d include a tutorial for how it’s done. But if you’d rather just buy it 🙂 you will soon be able to purchase one like it at my Etsy store. If you want the colors customized, contact me at exhalia@exhaliastudios.com.
Materials:
- spool of craft wire (I used Beadalon either 24 or 26 gauge, which I think is a little light)
- 25 or so glass beads of varying size and shape
- 25 or so large seed beads
- wire cutter
- pliers
- a nightlight
- The first step is to wrap the wire around something about half again as wide as the height you want your tree. As you wrap, add one bead at a time. All the beads should stay on the top half of your wrap.
I secured each end with a bead through which I coiled the wire around twice. - Take your coils off of your form, and twist them together at one end.
- If this is your first set of branches, twist the wire up from the bottom until you get to the height you want the branches to start coming out. If you are adding this branch to a piece already in progress, twist it around the already formed trunk. I find it is easier to do this step with the beads at the bottom of the loops, in effect, working with the tree upside down. This keeps the beads at the end of their loops.
- As you get to the place where you want a new set of branches to start, pull the loops you are working with slightly away from the main trunk and start twisting the branches together. Every few cm or so, pull off another 1 or 2 loops and twist those until you are left with only one loop. Continue to twist each branch end until the beads are secure at the end of the twisted loop.
- To attach the tree to the night light. I simply looped a piece of wire around the base several times and cinched it down. To clarify, the wire is looped around the post where the shield went, not anywhere near the outlet prongs. Please be very careful that the wires are neither too near the prongs or the bulb socket as this could present a fire/shocking hazard. I may decide to reinforce that with a glue gun later. For this night light, I left a gap between the “roots” to accommodate the switch.
My husband thinks that I should have painted the night light first, but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort to prime it and then paint it when the idea was for the tree to obscure the light.
It’s beautiful! I think I agree with your husband that you should paint the base–otherwise it’s perfect. It really does give the appearance of a tree.
It’s lovely, Julie! You are so talented 🙂 I guess you got all the “crafty” genes!
Wonderful so simple yet so unique
I can’t find another way to contact you. May I post a picture of this tree with a link back to this blog? I just love it.
Sure! Thanks for asking. 🙂
A great idea to turn such a practical little thing into a miniature decorative piece.
And no, don’t go to the trouble to paint the base. As it is, it dissolves into the faceplate and the tree is the focus. If you paint it I think it might start to look crafty… kind of like “oh look, someone decorated a night light with beads” instead of the artistic lighted tree I see now.
I will be subscribing to see what you do with the lampshades. I’m smitten with mid-century lamps and have found a few at garage sales and flea markets and am looking for just the right shade to enhance and update them.
Jan
Stunning and beautiful and creative! Painting the light base would be my choice when I make this…with cobalt and turquoise beads, of course!
absolutely beautiful! What a wonderful idea! A brown base might look like earth, otherwise I don’t think I’d paint it. I do wonder/worry about the metal wound around the base right by the prongs – the whole tree could become live! Or have you solved this? Thanks for any advice.
Thank you so much for bringing these concerns to my attention. I have addressed them in a revision of the post.
P.S. I like the green beads so much. I’ve heard that green is the most relaxing colour. I may make some of these for Christmas if I can figure out the safety issue. (PPS I can’t figure out how to follow comments on just this post, so I can be notified if you reply. Will it automatically email me? )
Thanks for your reply! I like the idea of leaving the cover on, depending on what it’s like, just because it would diffuse the light and make it not glare, if, say, one’s bed were to the side. Though would that look funny with the cover behind? I guess if glare turned out to be an issue another option would be to use a really low power bulb. Thanks again.
Just great! I love all sorts of beads but am not interested in a lot of the projects I see using them, but I could really get into these! I bet with some supervision I could get my preschooler to help make some presents by doing some of the twisting. Thank you!
That is sooo pretty! What a fun way to incorporate beads into the home! I just clicked over from Carft and would love to link to this if you didn’t mind.
I found the local WalMart sells a nite-light that is a sensor LED. Same price as the bulb version, but much safer and just as super bright! Thank you so much for this beautiful design; my son loves his new tree-light!
Oh, and I also used 26 gauge wire that was a bronze as well as one that was a golden brown. It really added to the whole tree appearance.