Post #182452 by badmojo on Sat, Aug 27, 2005 6:22 PM

I finally picked up a copy of Matt Maranian's PAD, and loved the simplicity of his Hawaiian Eye Swag Lamps. I picked up a pair of white acrylic overhead light globes from Home Depot for $9.99 each, and used fine grade sandpaper over the entire surface so the paint would adhere better.

In the book the light fixture is held in place with a couple of twisted wires, but I had another idea. I used a couple of clip-in light cord sets I picked up at Dollar Tree. The lights come packaged with the bulb fixture inside a clear acrylic tube to protect during shipping. Since it's already the perfect size, I thought I'd use it to mount the fixture inside the globes.

I traced around the mouth of the globe onto a thin plastic sheet. In this case it's a CD bin divider from my Music Store days. Then I just cut an opening in the center for the tube, and hot glued them in place. I drilled four holes in the globe necks and used zip-ties to hold them in place.

Using Sisal twine I wrapped both globes, tying off the ends.

Then I just sprayed them with a few light, even coats of paint. After the paint is dry you cut away the twine.

Re-wrap!

Just to clean up the cords a little, I sprayed then brown & wrapped them with more twine. I split a piece of bamboo and notched the back so the cords would run through and out, and hung the whole contraption from a couple of eye hooks. I think it's adds some color and gives the corner some character. And cheap! $20 for the globes, $2 for the bulbs/fixtures and the rest of the stuff I already had around the house.

[ Edited by: badmojo 2005-08-27 18:25 ]