Faux Shell Chandelier - Part 2

In Part 1 I talked about making the shells and stringing them together with jump rings.  In this part I'll go over what I used to make the structure that you'll hang the shells on.

As I mentioned in Part 1, one of my biggest gripes about the other tutorials I found is that they never addressed wiring or hanging the chandelier.  I wanted something that would look professional when it was done and for that to happen it needs to be hard-wired in the way commercial light fixtures are.  So, we needed to build a nice looking structure.

Here is what you're going to need:

• A metal basket
• Piece of sheet metal for the top plate
• L-shaped aluminum (for the inset of the mounting box and also as trim)
• Metal strip
• Aluminum tubing (copper would also work if the diameter works for you)
• Machine screws to create the mounting box
• Light sockets with mounting hardware
• Spray paint in the metal finish of your choice
• Wire
• Drill, Hacksaw, Screwdriver

For the base of my chandelier I used a metal basket that I found at Homegoods.  Here's a picture of the basket along with the sheet metal, metal strip and L-shaped aluminum that we bought at Menard's:

A couple things to note... We bought a piece of sheet metal that was about the same proportion as the basket.  If you're using a round basket as your base you'll have to cut the circle shape yourself, most likely, but that is doable.  Or you could try and use a square piece for the ceiling plate, which would probably look fine as well.  Also, the box is going to be supporting the weight of the chandelier, so you want a piece of metal that is thick/sturdy enough to handle that.

The first thing we did was cut the handles off of the basket.  My husband used his dremmel tool to do that.

Next, we needed a way to hang the basket.  We decided that we wanted 2 tubes going from the basket up to the box on the ceiling.  So, we cut the metal strip to be wide enough to go across the basket and attached it to the top with some machine screws.  We had the tools to tap (create threads in) the metal of the basket.  If you don't have a tap set, you could just as easily drill all the way through the basket and use a nut on the other side, or a sheet metal screw may also work:

Cut the strip to the width of the basket

Pre-drill holes in the strip and the basket or use a tapping tool to add threads.

Attach with screws and drill holes for the wiring that will attach the brackets to the ceiling plate.

The next step was to attach the light sockets to the underside of the basket.  So, we flipped the basket over and attached the sockets using large washers and nuts and bolts.  The sockets we purchased were designed to go on the end of a threaded pipe, which are often used for lighting fixtures.  The pipe was longer than needed, so we were able to cut them in half:

A whole threaded pipe and one cut in half

A view from the top down after the sockets were attached.

View from the bottom

It doesn't look like it due to the angle of this picture but the lights are equally spaced and centered lengthwise

For the wiring, we used some 18 gauge lamp cord (about 6 feet).  The sockets were wired in parallel (see here for an explanation on what that means).  You'll want enough wire coming off the last socket to make it from where you expect the chandelier to hang to the ceiling, plus an extra foot or two. Make sure that there is no contact between anything that should have electricity going to it (wires, socket screws) and things that shouldn't (the basket, or any of the mounting hardware).

Depending on the exact style of sockets you have, you may want to use something like electrical tape to cover up any bare wire or screw terminals.  We used some liquid electrical tape, and painted several coats on to completely cover any bare metal.

Close up of the socket with electrical and painted electrical tape.

Stay tuned for Part 3 where we'll talk about building the base plate that goes on the ceiling and attaching the basket to the ceiling plate and finally, Part 4 where I'll go over attaching the shells and installing the chandelier.