3 Christmas Decorations Made From Light Bulbs

In this Instructable, we'll make 3 Christmas Decorations out of Light Bulbs.

It's a great way to make an original gift or a unique Christmas decoration.

It's also a great way to recycle old light bulbs.

What's needed:

• Light Bulbs
• Copper tape
• Nichrome wire
• Silicon Carbide Grit
• Glass Etching Cream
• Plaster of Paris
• Fake Snow
• Glycerin (optional)
• Snowman Figurine
• Other common materials

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You'll need to hollow out the bulb.

If you want to take a shortcut, you can leave the glass inside of the bulb. Just make sure to let some air in the Light Bulb by breaking the tube.

I tied a nichrome wire around the bulb and twisted it for a tighter fit.

I also secured it with a copper tape.

I cut the twist to separate the wire.

I used a 20v battery as my power source.

By attaching positive end of the cable to one side of the wire and negative to the other, the wire will start to glow.

It will get extremely hot, so don't touch it.

If 3 - 10 seconds, the bulb should split in half.

The cut will not be perfect, so you'll need to sand it.

Silicon carbide powder is what like to use for sanding glass.

I poured some onto a piece of glass and added water.

Because the glass is very thin, it only takes a few minutes to sand it.

Before gluing both pieces together, I made a little cut in each piece to leave space for the hanger/ribbon.

You can fill the ball with whatever you want or you can paint it.

I cut a hole and sanded the bulb

I added clay feet and baked it in oven as per manufacturers instructions.

In my case it was 15min @ 130c/266F

I added some stickers and covered the bulb with glass etching cream.

After a few minutes, I washed off the cream.

That's it!

We have made a candle shade.

The only part that gets very hot is the metal at the top.

The glass is only warm, so you can easily lift the bulb to put out the candle.

I cut the bulb and sanded

I used a circle cutter to score acrylic and cut the circle.

Then I drilled a hole in the circle

I glued snowman "Olaf" on top of the circle.

After that, I glued the bulb (let's call it a glass ball)

To make sure the ball does not leak, I sealed the joints with silicone.

I poured in some fake snow.

I filled the bulb with water and glycerin mix

I closed the hole with silicone

I made a mold from a plastic cup and filled it with Plaster of Paris.

Then I put the ball on top.

When the plaster was dry, I painted it red.

That's it!

Out snow globe is ready.

While the plaster was drying, I noticed that an air bubble had formed in the water.

I believe it was caused by the trapped air in figurine.

I was going to use ceramic figurine, but I liked the snowman better.

The snowman is made from soft, rubber type of material.