Convert Your Water Glasses Into Stylish, Mid Century Modern Chandelier

Based on success of my previous project, I'm bringing you another one. This is much simpler to make, requires far less time and tools and is optimized to be made with K40 CO2 and similar lasers.

Bill of materials

3 pcs. Glass water glasses (avoid plastic glasses, they will melt and might cause fire).

3 pcs lamp sockets

3 pcs lamp socket caps

6 pcs strain relief sets for lamps

Approximately 6 ft (2 meters) of flexible AC cord.

Approximately 6 ft (2 meters) Woven retainer, preferably, black-copper, black-brown, black-gold colors.

1 pcs. M10 ceiling mount

1 pcs. M10 hollow tube with screw, 2cm length.

1 pcs. M10 round end nut

3 pcs. LED light bulbs.

Sheets of 3mm plywood, approximately 30x20cm, 5 pieces total.

Sheet of 3mm clear acrylic, approximately 30x20 cm.

FolkArt acrylic paint (#666 -"Antique copper")

Painter's tape

PVC insulating tape

Wood glue

Black paint (optional)

Tools:

Electric drill (preferably bench or floor standing type)

30mm diamond tile hole saw drill bit

K40 or similar Laser cutter/engraver (capable of cutting 3mm plywood and acrylic)

Color printer

Sponge brush

Scissors, xacto knife, pliers and some other, general hand tools

Please, read the text below, before you go out and buy all the materials.

First of all, you will need a set of 3 glasses of cylindrical shape. When selecting the glasses, do a check, whenever they're wide enough to accommodate led light bulb inside. Nearby store had choice of these 3 types as shown, considering these limitations, so I bought them all. After some testing, I've determined that middle ones, with concentric rings, suit MCM style more, than others. Next you will need light bulb sockets. Consider buying size that will fit into your glasses – I had to use E14 standard sockets, because E27 was too big for these glasses. According to sockets, buy the LED bulbs. I do not recommend using incandescent or fluorescent lamps in such design, because there is no way for hot air to escape, so that might cause glass cracks or socket melting. I'm using 3x 5W led bulbs inside and they deliver light enough to illuminate brightly the tabletop or other, "central" area of the room. Another attention should be paid for that woven retainer. They come in 3 types – All PVC, PVC+Cloth, Cloth only. I suggest you to use Cloth only or PVC+Cloth type, because they're softer and won't wrinkle as all PVC retainers.

Below are files that you will need either to print on paper or to cut from wood or acrylic.

\woodtop.svg – main part, need to cut this single piece from 3mm plywood and another one from clear acrylic.

\woodinserts.svg – these are wood parts, which form the main "body" of the chandelier

\cupstencil.svg – this is file for stars to be painted on the socket caps

\mainpart.svg – this is the "atomic" picture, which goes between the main wood part and acrylic sheet.

Since paint needs considerable time to dry, let's start with this step. Attach painter's tape to some metallic surface, and cut it with file "cupstencil.svg". Carefully peel of the tape from the base, and wrap it around the socket cup. This requires some precision and patience, so don't worry if you can't attach it evenly for the first time. After the tape is firmly attached, soak the foam brush into paint and with gentle touches, cover up whole exposed area. Do not apply strong force, or paint will slip under the tape, ruining the stencil. After this all done, place them away and allow to dry for at least 24 hours.

Cut these wooden parts and glue together. You can see that I made some extra holes in them – this is for screws, which are tightened for uniform glue distribution. Allow it dry overnight. After that, you can either sand off the edges and paint them black, as I did, or you can leave them as they are – some people like that brownish tint, which is result of wood cutting by laser. Using same file as for wood part, cut cover from transparent acrylic.

Using diamond hole saw, cut the holes in the glasses. Apply water to cut area, do not let it dry, and ALWAYS wear the respirator and eye protection – these fine glass pieces can be lethal, if inhaled in enough (quite small, actually) amounts. After cutting is done, you might wish to smooth edges with rasp or sandpaper for glass, for smoother holes.

There's nothing much to say here, print that top design, trim around with scissors and place it between top wood and acrylic parts. If you have good quality inkjet printer, get some high quality photo paper – for better contrast and longer color retention. There will be some paper sticking out of the edge after trimming, so use sharp xacto knife to remove that extra paper. You might also wish to apply black marker along the cut edge, to conceal white paper peeking thru the edge.

Take wire, guide it thru the retainer shell, prepare ends for socket insertion. Pay attention for part assembly sequence, as shown in photo. Be careful with cut glass edges, they might be sharp and harm you. As you can see from my pictures, I've used different length of wire for each lamp, for aesthetic purposes, but you can adjust them to whatever length you'd like. 2Nd set of retainers is screwed into top part, use them for length adjustment as desired.

Attach the mounting bracket to ceiling, connect the wires, and use M10 threaded tube and M10 Ball head screw to attach lamp to the ceiling. Enjoy your MCM lamp!