Moroccan Pattern Ceiling Fan Light Canister

I made two of these for the matching ceiling fans on my porch.

I originally had plain white glass globes. I broke one while cleaning them and found out how old the fans were when I tried to replace the glass - impossible to find and a fortune if you did. Not worth it.

So I decided to make a light cover that I actually liked and after some pondering, this is what I came up with.

1 sheet of 12x24-inch patterned aluminum

1 sheet of 12x12-in patterned aluminum

Metal ruler

Cutting mat

Box cutter

Tin snips

Gloves

Thin wire to match your chosen metal (not shown)

Pencil (not visible)

Clothes pins (optional)

In the first picture, you can see most of what I used: a cutting mat, a metal ruler, a box cutter, tin snips, gloves, patterned sheet aluminum, and (not pictured) pliable wire in a color to match your metal. Anything I didn't have came from my local hardware store.

Inspector Gypsy the cat did a walk-through to make sure everything was up to code.

The patterned metal comes in several colors and patterns in either large sheets or small craft sizes. I got two craft-size pieces, one 12x12 inch, and one 12x24 inch. The only difference, other than the size, is the edging. The12x12 had narrow edges all around, while the12x24 had a thicker edge on the short sides. That will matter in the next step.

The large sheets have no smooth edging, just so you know.

I started with the mat, ruler, and box cutter, but ended up doing most of my cutting with the tin snips.

I first cut down the middle of the larger piece so I had two 6x24 inch pieces (see the supplies picture). I rolled this up with the thin finished edge as the bottom and held it inside the fixture rim where you see the arrow. It doesn't have to be exact because when you cut the aluminum, you need some overlap. I pencil-marked where the finished edge landed and cut a few inches beyond that.

Then I decided if I wanted the canister to come down the full 6 inches or not. I ended up trimming it some because it looked too long to suit the fan. The cut side is not at all smooth, but nicely hidden inside the rim.

I was lucky that the size I needed allowed me to lap the pattern over itself so it matched. If it didn't, it won't show that much with that thicker edge in front, so make sure the thick edge is outside. As well as hiding the overlap, it makes the whole thing look more finished.

OK, I'm not a metal worker, so I connected this together in a way I'm very familiar with: I sewed it. I rolled it up to the marked size, held it with clothes pins, and used thin matching-color wire and wove it in and out around the pattern down along the thick edge and back up a little way over. I hid the beginning and end of the wire "thread" up under the rim. If it's hard to see the wire in the picture, it's even harder in person, so it worked for me.

You don't necessarily need a bottom, but I had hot halogen bulbs in there and it seemed unfinished without one. The 12x12 inch piece was the right size for two bottoms.

I took the canister and pencil marked around it. It doesn't need to be exact, it needs to cover the bottom. Cut it too large and start trimming. If it's too small, you need to go back to the hardware store for more sheet metal.

I snipped and checked, snipped and tested, until I had a piece that would fit pretty well and while I was doing that I got the idea to leave a few pattern bits sticking out that I could fold over like tabs (see the first picture).

If the bottom you end up with is not quite flat, you have your wire, so bend that metal to your will and make it stay in place!

In the last picture, my almost-finished piece, you can see some wires, but not so much from two feet away.

In the far right of the picture, you can see one of the three screws that were evenly spaced around my rim. I took all three out, held my light canister in place, and marked the screw positions through the screw holes. I made sure that either the screw would go through a space in the pattern or I bent and/or snipped what I had to to create a space.

I tried to position the light canisters so that the overlaps were facing away from where people would sit and see the lights. In my case, that meant toward the windows at each end of the porch, so most of what you see is pattern.

As you can see, you can put a higher wattage bulb and light up your space or dial it down and set a mood.

I'm really happy with how they turned out and I'm glad I tried a medium I don't know much about.