Monday, March 21, 2011

Bird Cage Light

My living room has no overhead light and this annoys me. There is no wiring to hook anything up to either but I'm working on that.I first grabbed a plant hanger and tried to decoupage tissue paper to it but it didn't work. I was thinking of a Tiffany Lamp, so I got some white cotton fabric and bunched and sewed it to the plant hanger. Then I took a sharpie and drew in the lines of the hanger and colored some in. I used an Ikea light cord (Ikea) and hung it inside the bowl.
 

I'd recently seen an awesome hanging bird cage light for $65 and really wanted it but thought I could make it for cheaper. I went to Tai Pan Trading and found a white bird cage that had a top I could easily remove to add the light and cord. I dremeled the top off and then spray painted it black, thought it would look better against the light. Plastic Land


It was a windy day and got paint everywhere so that was fun. I used the chain from the plant hanger and cut 3 5 inch pieces and bent them to the cage top with a center ring to add the part that hangs from the ceiling. Then I grabbed some unbleached cotton muslin and glued/sewed it to the inside to mute the light. I'd glue up about 5 bars, let it dry and then sew it onto the last bar then repeat.


While buying the bird cage I saw a small wooden bird and grabbed it too. I didn't really have a plan, maybe inside the cage or something. Hanging from underneath the cage sounded good so I drilled a hole in the top of the bird and pounded a hole in the bottom center of the cage and epoxyed some hooks. My drill bit was too big. After drying I connected the two with a short chain.







$30 bird cage
$2 spray paint
$1 fabric
$2 wooden bird



 
I actually used two of the Hemma cord sets because the fabric muted the light a little too much but it's done and looks fabulous.

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