A DIY Vision

What's this you ask???? Good question.....................

What do you think it might be???? Any guesses????

Ok, so many of you may already know because I can't stop talking about this project. Maybe I can't stop talking about it because it seemed simple at first and then as in any project it WASN'T, or maybe I couldn't stop talking about it because what I thought I could do by myself, wellllllllll, really didn't work out that way either and I ended up needing A LOT of help from my hubby, or maybe it is because, like all my GREAT ideas, my hubby and I about killed each other through the process. Any way, whatever the reason is to why I can't stop talking about this project, who knows, but I am finally happy to say IT IS DONE!!!! It did make a good story along the way.
Oh and nobody was harmed during the making of this project. Now.....on to what IT actually is......

It started out as a girl with a vision. That girl would be me if you didn't already know that. Any way, I had a vision about doing something unique and interesting in our dining room to replace our existing chandelier. The girl with the vision searched and searched for that perfect lighting and couldn't seem to find the right thing or the right thing was not the right price and the right price just couldn't be compromised. I just couldn't justify, or excuse me, this girl with this vision just couldn't justify spending $100 or more on lighting, or at least for this particular room. I know....CHEAP....but what can I say. Then when my head was hung low and I thought I would be stuck in chandelier hell forever.....

See what I mean.....

I found this link http://madebygirl.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-finished-diy-pendant-light-via-made.html and this awesome string pendant light. You should check out her site too, Made By Girl, so much great stuff!



Amazing right???? So of course I wanted to try making it and I thought I had the skills to make this simple yet amazing light. I mean really,  how hard could it be?

****Note**** Ask yourself that question at least 20 times before starting this project and then if you still feel like attempting it....ask yourself again. Trust me. You will thank me for it.

Ok so it wasn't as simple as it sounded or as it appeared. I will admit that this could be that the project is truly a little more challenging than it sounds or it could be operator errors, lots of operator errors, probably not, but could be. Just saying!

Here is what this girl with a vision did, just in case you are curious to see:

First you need supplies. On the blog mentioned above she used wall paper paste. I considered using that as well but also found out by reading several other DIY blogs, where some brave individuals attempted this project too, and found out that you can use glue, corn starch, and hot water. All you have to do is mix those components in a bucket and you are set to go. Oh, and it might be handy to have some disposable gloves which my hubby just so happen to have....hmmmmmm. The next thing you will need is some yarn or twine or really whatever you fancy and feel like using. I bought some really cheap white yarn that is a medium weight at good ole Wally World! $2.50! Can't beat that price!

I finally am getting some use out of my exercise ball. I can feel the calories burning right off.

You need a ball. I read that some people used beach balls, balloons (not sure how that would work), bouncy balls, or their beloved exercise balls, which is what I had handy so that is what I used. I am not really sure the exact size of the ball but I think it was a medium size. Draw a circle on the ball in black marker. You want the circle to be large enough to be able to put your arm in to change your light bulb. I made a circle that was the size of the circle you can already see on the top of the ball. After it being all said and done, I would recommend a little larger circle.

 And you will need a Diet Coke. Or maybe that is just me!

Ok moving forward NEXT.........

Lube up baby!!!! You can use either vasoline or cooking spray (which is what we used) on your ball. This shouldn't sound weird butttttt.....I can't help it, it does. Ok anyway, this will help so the string doesn't stick to the ball and it will also make it super duper slick....which makes the string move around a little bit or a lot.

You need to run your yarn through your glue or paste mixture and wrap it around the ball. This is where you can spice things up a little and get a little crazy because the pattern is totally up to you. Make sure you don't wrap yarn over the circle you drew on the ball. You need to leave that open.

Now please read this part carefully because it is very important that you understand that if you ask your hubby to help you wrap the ball with yarn that it may cause him to resent you a little because you interrupted him while watching Sunday Football and he may or may not hold that against you and proceed to not be so careful when trying not to douse you in glue when wrapping the ball. I wouldn't know, I'm just saying.

The easiest way that I found to wrap the yarn around the ball was to cut it in long strips and run each strip through the glue and wrap. It also helps to have one person hold the ball steady while the other person wraps.

I first tried this:

And welllllllll.......that didn't work for me. Lots of swinging. So one person held and one person wrapped to create this:

 And I got messy like this:

So now it is just time to wait. You want to let the ball dry for at least 24 hours, however we let ours dry for about 48 hours. This was partly due to the fact that the part that was sitting on the bucket was sealed by actually sitting on the bucket so it maintained it's moisture and didn't get hard. Which meant, we had to flip it to dry. You have to be smarter than the bucket. :)

Once the yarn dries, then comes the tricky part, well one of many tricky parts, removing the ball. You will want to deflate the ball and then remove the ball through the hole that you left open. I ended up having to cut the exercise ball into pieces to get it out of the hole. I am assuming this is because the exercise ball is heavy and I couldn't get it to roll up small enough to get it out.

When the ball is removed it will look like this:

My wonderful hubby handled the electrical side of this project and I supervised. He might call it something else......any who......It took, not one trip, but one trip to Lowes and one trip to Home Depot to figure out how to make just the right cord and light fixture. You can make your own or find a little cheap one already made that you have to strip and maneuver a bit and cuss at a little to get to work just right and to hold a stronger bulb than the 60 watt restriction. We need 100 watts baby! Lets just say it took a lot of little tweaks!

A Vision is Born:

****Note**** The light is actually really white, but the picture and color of the room makes it look a little yellow or blue in this picture. I couldn't get it just right.

It might not be for everyone, but it certainly is something I love and am proud to say I made, with my hubby's help and some good blog tutorials. Good bye brass chandelier and hello modern string pendant light.