How to Make Your Own Cluster Bulb Chandelier

A cluster bulb chandelier provides soft lighting with an interesting bubble-like appearance. With one lit bulb in the center of a cluster of empty glass orbs or unlit bulbs, the light from a cluster chandelier sparkles throughout the glass orbs for simple, romantic lighting. Most of the materials required to make a cluster bulb chandelier are inexpensive, and the chandelier is also relatively simple to make at home. Choose the number of glass orbs or bulbs and the sizes of the orbs and bulbs based on personal preference.

Stud finder
Drill (optional)
2 screw-in wall hooks
Bulb socket with long cord and electrical plug
Attractive rope or twine (optional)
Spool of wire
40-watt lightbulb
7 to 20 glass orbs (with hooks or loops for hanging) or light bulbs

Instructions

- 1
  Use a stud finder to find a secure place to hang the chandelier from, generally a ceiling beam or joist.
- 2
  Screw a hook into the ceiling where the chandelier will hang. If it's too difficult to screw the hook in by hand, drill a narrow hole in the ceiling and then screw the hook into the hole. Screw a second hook into the ceiling near where the ceiling meets the wall, and near an electrical outlet.
- 3
  Lay the lightbulb socket and cord on a flat surface.
- 4
  Tie a 2-inch loop at the end of a 6-inch length of the rope, twine or wire. Some people prefer to use an artsy twine or rope to hang the glass orbs, while others prefer to use a wire that blends in with the color of the cord attached to the socket.
- 5
  Loop the lightbulb cord once around the rope or wire loop so that the loop is 1 to 3 feet up the cord from the lightbulb socket. Choose the distance from the socket based on how low you want the chandelier to hang.
- 6
  Tie the loose tail of the rope or wire loop around the cord to help further secure the loop to the cord.
- 7
  Secure the rope or wire loop to the cord even further by wrapping and tying them together with wire directly below the knot, in the middle of the rope/wire tail and just above the loop.
- 8
  
  Start with the wired bulb, and then hang the glass orbs.
  
  Screw the lightbulb into the socket.
- 9
  Hang the bulb by its cord from the ceiling hooks at the approximate height you want the chandelier to be. The other end of the bulb cord should hang from the second hook so that it can plug into the nearest electrical outlet.
- 10
  
  Glass orbs reflect some of the light from the lit bulb.
  
  Hang the glass orbs or bulbs on wire strings from the rope or wire loop. Choosing the lengths of wire while the bulb is hanging allows you to control exactly how the finished chandelier will look. Some people like to hang the orbs so that they surround the wired bulb and create a bubble effect, while others prefer to hang all of the orbs at around the same height as the bulb.

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