How to Make a Pipe Chandelier

Chandeliers come in all types and sizes, ranging from massive crystal ornaments in hotel lobbies to small ceiling decorations in suburban homes. You can make your own eight-candle chandelier out of copper pipes, simply soldering straight pipes and fittings together to assemble a half steampunk, half DIY-chic lighting fixture. The simple structure can be expanded upon to make more complex models or simply used as-is for a unusual but attractive dining room centerpiece.

10-foot copper pipe
1 copper six-way star fitting
4 copper tee fittings
8 copper elbow fittings
Pipe cutter
File
Abrasive pad
Solder flux
Paintbrush
Soldering iron
Screwdriver
Screws
8 candles

Instructions

- 1
  Cut four one-foot lengths of copper pipe, one two-foot length and eight six-inch lengths. Remove all burrs from the cut edges with a file.
- 2
  Clean one end of the two-foot pipe with an abrasive pad. Wipe the inside of the cups on a six-way star-fitting the same way. Apply flux to the outside of the pipe and the inside of one of the cups with a paintbrush. Insert the pipe into the fitting, and solder them together.
- 3
  Solder the four one-foot lengths into four of the remaining ends of the fitting, creating a cross shape with the long pipe sticking straight up in the air. Solder tee-fittings to the end of each branch of the cross, with the open ends horizontal. Solder the eight short pipes into these open ends, creating a cross with each point finishing in a T. Solder elbow-fittings to the end of each short pipe, this time with the open end of the elbows pointing upward.
- 4
  Solder a flange to the upper end of the vertical pipe, and screw it to the ceiling. Insert a candle into each of the elbow joints.

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