Easy Teacup Chandelier - Take 2 and 3!

While work continues on the roofing and the exterior trim of the Shabby Chic Soap Shop I received my new Du Bro tubing bender. I had to try it out, so this lead me down another rabbit hole...

If you'll recall from my Easy Teacup Chandelier post, I had an epic failure at my attempt to bend 1/8" copper tubing with the K&S Tubing Bender kit. It has been pointed out to me by kindred souls over at the Greenleaf forums that it was probably just user error, because they have no problem using them. I was using copper tubing, and they were using brass, so that was probably what accounted for the diverse results.

The Du-bro bender included four 3" pieces of 1/8" brass tubing. It bent like a dream! No crimping, no breaking. Here you can see all four pieces perfectly bent into beautiful J's!

Okay, so it works perfectly on brass but how about copper?

Not so much. It actually crimps and breaks the metal. Now I am sure that if I insert a piece of solid wire into the tubing and heat it up a bit before bending (as was suggested to me on the forum) I may have better results. Another challenge for another time perhaps... For now, we'll stick to the very accommodating brass rod.

But on to my progress on the chandelier...

I needed a central brace - something a little decorative. Hoarders everywhere will rejoice when I show you some really old stock I had saved for "just in case"... Veranda Posts!

I got out the trusty old bead container and started to create something of a shabby chandelier using these and other "parts".

These two bead caps glued together will serve as the base of the center wooden dowel.

I am using a combination of E6000 and The Ultimate Glue to see what sticks, pun intended (snicker)...

These will be the parts that support the saucer and attach them to the brass J's. The toothpicks are simply an attempt to keep things lined up and uncrooked:

Here is the dowel being glued into the bottom bead caps. I was very generous with the Ultimate glue here. It will dry clear, and the whole assembly will be painted white, so a little messy was okay.

The J's will have to be attached to the top of the chandelier somehow. A large bead cap seemed like just the thing - only, I needed to make the holes larger so that the 1/8" rod would fit into them. I just used the Dremel with the drill attachment to open them up a bit. You can see how one of the four has been enlarged.

Next, I needed to assemble the candle bulb, cup, saucer and support bead caps to the J's. This meant fishing the candle wires through each component. I found that a little persistence, going slowly, being willing to back the wire out a bit then push forward with gentle pressure helped to coax the wires to manage the curve and pop out blissfully from the end.

Closer up...

Now to add the top to the dowel with the base. I decided maybe screwing it in might be better than just glue. Drilled the pilot hole, widened the hole in the bead cap, then screwed it down... The screw sticking out the top will serve as a spacer - you'll see what I mean in a later step...

Okay - time to add the arms - in this model there will only be four. The photo below gives you a rough idea, though a messy one, of what I'm trying to accomplish...

Getting there is a fiddly and messy business. Hopefully, once completed and painted shabby white, it will add to the flavor of the look for the shop that I am trying to achieve. If not, I have plenty more brass, plenty of beads, plenty of veranda posts and plenty of will to try, try again... The teacup chandelier experiments will continue...

Meanwhile, check out what materials and details I've revealed to use in the HBS Creatin' Contest 2016 page. Kit bash and layout are coming in early June if all goes well!

*** UPDATE ***

Here is the chandelier after I glued it:

Sloppy, huh?

Here it is after I painted it:

Sloppy, huh?

Um... Yeah... It still needs work so I decided to just start all over again... See my little brass rods all cut to the perfect length and everything? Then I tried to bend them...

Then I learned something new - after the new brass tube (that the hubs so nicely picked up for me from the hobby store) bent and broke just like the copper tube! Apparently, you need to do something called ANNEALED to the metal.

Yep - I read all about it. Apparently, if you are trying to harden the brass, say if you are making bullets, you heat the brass with a torch until it is cherry red and immediately knock it into water to cool it quickly. If you want it soft, you heat it to cherry red with a torch and then let it cool slowly, like let it air cool. Then it is supposed to submit to being bent into a nice looking "J" with no crimps and no breaking. So, to sum up this post, this is an ongoing experiment, and I will post again about my annealing experience and let you know if I actually made a purdy chandelier...

Thank Goodness For Quick Shipping!

When I last posted, I was waiting for some things to arrive in order to move forward on the soap shop: White paint, a variety of trims, and the half scale speed shingles for the main roof. I am happy to report that I had the trims by Monday (thank you Manchester Wood Works on ebay!), the paint on Tuesday (thank you Amazon for the 8oz white paint for $4.33 and free 2 Day Prime shipping), and the speed shingles on Wednesday (thank you Greenleaf for the Priority Mail). I was able to tackle each little project as the shipments arrived!

The overwhelming consensus on the bay roof, both on the blog and by real life viewers, was to go with the "metal" option. I liked the idea! I thought it would add just another little textural detail to make it look extra yummy! I had some nasty gaps in the little roof where I had to make adjustments to the slots, so I needed to get those filled in. I used a piece of scrap wood (a poked out tab from the kit) to fill in the gap, then slathered everything in a couple layers of spackle. Once it was dried and sanded, the surface was smooth enough to pass for "metal". I added some trims, painted it with a few coats of trim color and then applied several coats of satin varnish so it would have a little metal sheen.

I received the trim that I needed to finish off the back roof edges. I had a heck of a time getting the mitered corners to match up. It was one of those days that I had to struggle through and wonder why everything was so hard. In the end, it worked out - it just literally took more than 2 hours for a 15 minute job. Meh... That's the miniatures business - it just makes the successes that much sweeter.

I got the paint and then went after all of the gaps and scrapes and things that needed touching up on the interior. You know, it's kind of difficult for me to keep some of the shabby! I just tend toward trying to fix everything, even when I remind myself that I 'don't want it perfect'. It's supposed to be a bit shabby and have some character. Do you find yourself doing that, too?

I had some of the hexagon speed shingles left over from the gable ends, so I went to work on the dormer area of the roof. I knew that once it was shingled, you weren't going to see it, but I painted the background color on just in case. Then I shingled the area and gave it a whitewash just like all the other hex shingled areas.

I did a final dry fit on the dormer and installed the window, I traced around it so that I had my line of where to roof up to. I need some input as to weather I should add a flower box under the dormer or just leave it alone? I'll take suggestions now and then later, after I post a mock up, so we can all get a visual on size/scale/placement etc...

Look at the photo below. Do you know what these are? They are little packages of speed shingles. 3 diamond, and 1 hex just in case I needed more. This photo represents $43.30 of roofing material (including $7.50 for shipping). That is the most expensive roof ever for a dollhouse! Well, I am sure not ever. There are monster roofs out there. But it is the most for me, so they had better look darn cute for years to come! :O) They do go on super fast, so if you have a short attention span like me and want the roof DONE, I recommend them highly!

I started a few rows of roofing Wednesday night. The hubs came back from his California trip (with son to bring home VW Bug which wonderful auntie Dayo gave to son) early Thursday morning, so there it sat until this morning. Just an FYI and note to self... Don't try to shingle a roof while talking to your mother about emotional family drama. I got a little wonky and had to pull stuff off to fix it  - after I got off the phone... I did 7 rows of diamonds, then 3 rows of hex, then back to diamond etc... I have a ways to go, but got a brainstorm type headache this afternoon, so I am on hold again until tomorrow.

Now here's another dilemma; shall I make the dormer and porch roofs metal as well, or just continue with the diamonds on them, too? I am not the best roofer in the world, so that teeny scared part of me is a little intimidated about the dormers. I want to do what's best for the shop, though, so I'll get over the fear if that's what I need to do. What do you think?

One last note before I go try to find my last Imitrex (for migraine)...

I have started a page for the 2016 Creatin' Contest build. Nothing too interesting yet, but I do have a theme picked out and plan to get started soon. Once the roofing is completed on the soap shop, but before I begin on the interior. If I start on the layout of the contest kit, I can get a better idea of a timeline and if I need to start freaking out yet or not. You can check it out here...

Hope you all have a wonderfully fun and relaxing weekend!

Jodi

Easy Teacup Chandelier

When I was dreaming and planning the Shabby Chic Soap Shop I looked for ideas everywhere. When I saw something I liked and wanted to replicate, I saved the photos and links in folders both on my computer and in my Google Favorites. I looked at all sorts of things, and while browsing on Pintrest, saw many chandeliers made with old teacups. I knew I had to make something like them for the shop.

My ideas always seem to start out very grandiose. That is until I hit a road block and have to alter my plans. I wanted to use copper tubing as the chandelier arms, conceal the wiring, and hold the teacups and saucers. Then, I'd paint it black, then white, then sand in spots and apply aging washes until it looked perfectly shabby. Great idea, right?!?

Let's digress into copper tubing for a moment. Specifically, cutting it without crimping and mucking it up. I made several attempts with the affordable "tubing bender" that the manufacturer of the tubing also manufactures. It was a miserable and costly disaster. It did not bend the copper tubing into a perfect J. It just barely bent it before it BROKE COMPLETELY AND GOT STUCK IN THE BENDER APPARATUS.  Is it me? Really?

The instructions say that you can heat it up first. What? Then melt the skin right off of your hands while trying to bend the HOT METAL in the now conducted HOT METAL of the bendy thing? AND! Don't you think that they should let you in on this before you purchase? 

Pretty copper tubing will not be in my immediate future. Until I can afford the MicroMark tubing bender for real hobbyists, I'm not going to try this again. Humph...

PLAN B

Beads, precious!

Gathered all of the possible Plan B materials...

Drilled wiring holes into the tiny plastic teacups and saucers...

Starting parts...

Strung wire through the parts... Did not realize that these cups and saucers were so tiny. Otherwise I could have used smaller candle bulbs... Oh well, still cute...

Made 10, 5 for each chandelier...

Played and played with bead arrangement. Liked it, then didn't...

Too small?

Not sure... I'll keep working at it and post again once I figure it out...

Meanwhile... Started working on more trim. This time for the roof soffit/facia in anticipation of the diamond speed shingles that I hope to receive this week.

Trimming out that curve on the back roof was going to be a bitch real challenge. I could not come up with any creative remedy, so, I just got out a big box cutter and made it square.

I am out of molding in that size, so that means I am also waiting on package #2 this week.

I finished up all of the roof edge moldings (that I had material for).

On the bay roof: Should I wait to roof it in the diamond, or make a faux metal roof?

I have more sanding, filling, painting, repeat to come, so I can keep working while I wait for packages......

Have a great Real Life week my Mini Life friends!