Full-blown Sparkle

After the totally lovely results of redoing Grandma’s chandeliers, I was eager to do something about my light fixture in the dining room. The only redeeming quality there is that they are nickel and that is my medal of choice. But everything about it is boring and wrong.

dining room before

dining room before — check out the reflection for the full scope of the cheap, boring.

 

Sconces

Once the arms were turned upside down, I went to Lowes and picked out a few options for new sconces. A poll of my family and design savvy friends confirmed my choice of the sparkly one. Of course, they are about 4 times more expensive than the others but worth it. Also tested how the strings of hexagon crystals looked between the arms. Liking it so far.

This was extent of my original plan but I thought it could use more sparkle. After a few trips to craft and beading stores I was pretty frustrated about price and selection of beads. I found some I thought would work on Amazon but some of them literally were delivered via slow boat from China. That put the project on hold for awhile. After they got here, I still thought I needed more and visited the craft store again. Found some basic clear beads that would end up being a major player.

crystal strings

I had to hand bead all of the strings that would drape from the top ring and between the arms. Fun project to do while watching tv.

Canopy

I draped the strings from the top ring to the back of the sconces. Original plan was just one string pre arm but it looks weird, so I did a second string for each arm.

canopy strings

Still working on the canopy strings. Also found a larger pear-shaped crystal that I have had for years and decided to hang it off of the bottom for an extra little piece of bling.

Between arms

The strings between each arm. Haven’t added the second canopy strings yet.

Finished

All finished. Love how it looks. Even with lights turned off, super sparkly in natural light!

Not Funny

I don’t usually post stuff about work on this blog, other than to say it is keeping me busy, but this latest project took up of big chunks of my life over the last 9 months, so I thought it deserved a mention:

Fool me, I decided the comics pages needed an overhaul. So I put together a committee and tackled it. This the A1 article I wrote announcing the changes.

comics A1

The A1 story I wrote

a1 jump

The jump page from A1.

These are the Life pages with the article I also wrote and designed, introducing the new strips:

d1 intro

Life cover. Wrote story and designed

Life jump. Continued the meet the comics story. Still written by me.

Life jump. Continued the meet the comics story. Still written by me.

I set up feedback lines, but still got screamed at more than I wanted to. My big mistake was cutting the bridge column (that card game that old people play) — yeah, apparently Vancouver has a nationally known bridge club and I got over a hundred complaints in 3 days — so I had to bring it back. (serious teeth gnashing here). Oh well — win some, you lose some.