Chicken Wire Light Fixture

I love how a light fixture can add so much to a room, but because our existing light fixtures are fine I have a hard time feeling like I can justify the money to replace any of them. I have seen tutorials that show how to take a wire basket and turn it into a light fixture shade, but I was having a hard time finding just the right basket so I thought I would come up with a way to make my own. I wasn't sure if it would work, but when I realized I already had all the materials I needed, I decided to give it a try. The only additional cost was for the pendant (which was $18.00). It also made me happy to use the chicken wire that was sitting in the garage. It was for another project that I changed my mind on.

Materials Needed:

• 14 inch embroidery hoop
• wood filler
• chicken wire
• wire
• wire cutters
• glue gun
• round outlet cover
• spray paint (Oil Rub Bronze)

Instructions:

1) Remove clasp, and putty holes. Here is what my embroidery hoop looked like. It had a wooden clasp hooked to the outer hoop. 

I loosened the clasp which allowed me to take out the inside hoop. I then removed the wooden clasp, taking care not to damage the outer hoop. As shown below, this left me with several holes which I puttied with wood filler. I also had to glue the two loose ends of the hoop together. I used tape to hold them together until the wood glue set.

2) Spray the hoops with ORB spray paint.

3) Open and cut chicken wire. Since it was rolled, it had a natural curve to it. I placed one hoop inside and carefully wrapped the wire around it. Once I had an idea on how much wire I needed, I cut it down leaving it a couple inches bigger just in case.

4) Secure the chicken wire to the hoop by wrapping thin wire around the chicken wire and the hoop. Here is how I did it to make it look as clean as possible from the outside.

Picture 6 shows how the inside of the hoop looks.

Prior to attaching the other hoop, I tried to tame the sharp cut ends of the wire by pinching them flat with pliers.

Like so.

5) Attached the other hoop to the opposite end using the same method.

6) "Sew" the seam. Once you've attached the two hoops, you need to fasten the loose ends of the chicken wire by wrapping them together with the additional wire.

Here is how it looked at this point.

7) Cut a piece of chicken wire to make the top. I left a couple inches excess. Again paying attention to the natural curve of the wire, I placed the concave side facing up/out.

8) Trim excess. This time I trimmed it after it was attached. Once trimmed, turn the sharp wire edges down.

9) Hot glue edges. Because the wire edges were so sharp, I placed a little dab of glue to each end to cover them up.

10) Spray paint it.

11) Spray paint the outlet cover. I just painted the face since it was the only part that would show.

12) Fasten the plate to the inner side of the chicken wire. I used my glue gun for this.

13) I then replaced the old fixture with this one from Lowes.

All finished. I know it's not perfect, but I like it.

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C.R.A.F.T

I Should Be Mopping the Floor