Paper-Clip Chandelier: Step One

I have told people that I can make some cool house ideas for very cheap prices. One of these is a paper-clip chandelier. These do take quite a bit of time to start, but once you get going it is easy to finish and come up with your own designs. They are very elegant and by choosing right colors it can pass for an expensive decoration. There are 3 simple steps. While the steps are easy, it is a long process so be prepared to invest time into this, as you would in any art project. Before I start, I will say that this was my first paper clip chandelier. I had not made one before, so I can say with confidence that someone with no artistic experience can successfully make a chandelier.

I will be posting the steps in different posts so that I don't make a long drawn out post.

Step 1: Design and Experiment

This is the second longest step in this whole process. This step is where you will research different types of chandeliers. Do you want a circular one, pieces with hanging strips or more geometric closed ended pieces? Here you will also choose what colors you want. Normal paper clips are usually silver which is a color that works with every house. Black and Gold are also solid colors. Here are some examples of my design work when picking a chandelier. Realize that I not only looked at real life chandeliers but I have a large number of thumbnails. And if you can't draw, that's alright. Look at pictures you can find online.

       

These are from a simple google search of chandeliers. And you might be wondering how to make paper clips look like this. The simple answer is that in the metal will glint in light which gives it that glow. Also, you can add light bulbs or gems with hot glue to give it an elegant look. If it makes it easier just imagine that all the glass pieces is a paper clip, you can then see how they connect together to make a chandelier.

As you can see, none of the thumbnails have a lot of detail. Also, the images aren't an exact representation of what they look like in real life (e.g. the paper-clips).

These are not the only designs that you can do, these are ones I did while I was planning for my chandelier.