Saturday 18 September 2010

Let there be light!

Given the period of The Tenement there are quite a few items I am unable to purchase. It's later than Tudor but not as grand as Queen Anne so inevitably I've had to create some things myself. One of those things was a light fitting. Nothing I'd seen remotely resembled the original and it had to be of that specific style. So this is how I did it.............

This item only needs three components. A roll of electrical solder, coffee stirrers and two bulb fitments with wires attached.

Using a picture of the original as a guide, I cut and glued the stirrer into the required shape then cut the solder into the relevant sized pieces. This is quite easy to do. It was then just a matter of shaping the pieces to resemble the twirls and swirls in the picture. They were glued to the frame with Super Glue. I also added a tiny little shelf affair to hold the bulbs. The whole assembled piece was then sprayed matt black.

When dry I made two little holes in the shelf to take the light fittings. These are not glued in (just in case!) but they stand up quite well by themselves. I then used a black marker to give the effect of them being in a little holder.

A plug on the wires, and there you have it - one light fitting!

11 comments:

  1. The light fixture came out fantastic!!! I am happy to see it as I am in the process of building the "Crooked House" by Rik Pierce and have been thinking about making my own light fixtures. Your post is very inspiring!!!

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  2. What a beautiful light fitting! it looks excellent in situ, Irene!
    Why are modern light fittings so soul-less?
    Sometimes it's fun to make your own minis - I recently made a wooden side table (my first wooden project) and though it's not perfect I still get a little warm fuzzy feeling of satisfaction when I see it.
    Glenda

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  3. How clever Irene - I like the idea of using solder instead of wire because it's so easy to bend into shape but I'd never thought of it. The finished product is fantastic.

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  4. Thanks Irene! You are so creative! I am trying to design old fashioned lighting for my Castle Dollhouse and am having trouble deciding whether to do candle holders or torches! Your little fixture is lovely!

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  5. Hi Irene,

    that's exactly what the real one is like! Good on you for making your own. And you've saved a few pennies too.

    V

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  6. You've been very busy lately, and here is another great miniature. It's perfect.
    Geneviève

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  7. Gracias por enseñar tu trabajo y tu paso a paso de como conseguirlo. Está genial.
    Besos Clara

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  8. Big round of applause for you, it's great!
    Always fun to see someone recreate reality from scratch.

    groetjes Evelien

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  9. Irene, that's just wonderful! It looks just like wrought iron ... Brava :)

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  10. Thanks you all for your lovely comments. It was a lot less difficult to do than I first thought. In fact, I put of making the light for a while because I felt a bit intimidated by it but once I got started, it all just fell into place.

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