THE CRYSTAL OCTOPUS jens chandelier

Most who read my blog and follow my adventures

already know I love working with wood but I also enjoy working with other vintage finds.

The other thing I am very proud of is the ability to take a friends needs

and desires and create it for them.

A very good client and now close friend has been seeking just the right chandelier.

It had to be large in diameter yet shallow in height for her lower ceilings.

The right one was just not available no matter where we looked.

So I told her to leave it with me and Ill see what I can do.

That is where the monster octopus road side chandelier came in.

This thing had so many arms and was in such disarray I could never quite count how many
arms there actually was. Finally when I started to take it apart I got the count of 21.

I have worked with lamps, chandeliers, and general light fixtures for many years and understand

they really are just bits and pieces of a jigsaw puzzle but together in a pleasing form.

You can mix and match all sorts of parts together.

I started with the center of the octopus which had 6 arms and began adding

decorative bits top and bottom. Its trial and error what will look good so

I continued rebuilding my jigsaw puzzle over and over till I found the pleasing shape I wanted.

Once she was built and painted came the many long hours of adding wonderful sparkling crystals.

I drilled holes for hanging hooks and hand tied beads in just the right places.

I only manage to do about 2-3 chandeliers in a year because

they take countless hours to fiddle with.

I would not show my friend the final look through emailed photos because I wanted to see

her reaction in person and getting a pictures of a chandelier that

actually looks as good as it does in person is difficult.

She said "Im so jealous, ... but its mine and I cant wait to get it home"

It really is a masterpiece and so beautiful in person. I hope I have taken the right photos to

share with you so you can see for yourself.
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It can happen to you ...

 

 

This is the kind of thing that can happen in the blink of an eye!

It happens to the best of us even when we take precautions.

 

 

Youre sitting quietly one morning reading a magazine and you turn the page and gaze upon a photo

that starts the wheels turning in your head and before you know it the kitchen island is covered with 

your next project and in my case it was a collection of lamps.

I went mad with the idea to finally making new ones with all the parts after looking at 1 pretty picture.

You all know the scene and nice clean kitchen turns into bedlam all because you decided to take a

 moment for yourself.

 

 

Ornate lamps at the second hand stores around here are not that cheap so Im not sure why

I am constantly trying to save them when I only work with them a couple times a year.

Storing them takes a great deal of room but I do enjoy when I can rebuild beautiful new ones.

 

I took apart each lamp washing the glass bits in the sink as I went.

The metal parts were all taken outside to get sprayed white.

 

 

By the end of the day I was out of white spray paint and I had several glass cuts to my hands.

 I also ran out of my lamp shade trim but not before finishing these 2 chandelier lamps.

I will have more coming soon but I have more wiring to do and some trim to find.

 

These 2 are not completely identical, but a close second.

One is taller and the shade is slightly wider than the other.?

 

All the crystals are glass and the bases are marble.

They are 100% recycled from other lamps.

 

 

 

 

 

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HIGH PRIORITY chandelier lamp

I finish furniture like bunnies have babies, its just what I enjoy doing.

Unfortunately that leaves other things I collect sitting around being moved from place to place,

waiting for my attention.

One such project is a couple of vintage chandelier lamps I bought 9 months ago,

they are not a matched set but both are very elegant on their own.

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