Wagon Wheel Chandelier

The idea of the chandelier came to me because in my girlfriend's yard they've made a big shelter planned to be a barbeque with a big table so the whole family can gather. But for now only the shelter part is done. It is made like in old times- wooden shelter, wall made out of stones, clay things. All that was left was the lightning. So the whole scene lead me to this type of chandelier.

I used a lot of stuff to make this chandelier. Here is the long list of the materials:

A wagon wheel
1.5 metres of cable
about  2 metres of chain
some wood screws
a spring hook
4 wood screws with ring on the back
6 E14 sockets
6  candle light bulbs
Black paint
Transperant lacquer
Sand paper

On the picture you can see most of the material because other ones were needed later and i had to go to the shop few times because i always forgot something or something was comming up in the process.

I found a couple of wagon wheels in the old basement. This save me a lot of money on finding and buying a new one. I had a lot of work though.  The first thing i had to do is loseing some weight by removing the hub. The paint was old and it was very difficult to remove it. I used some help because other wise i was going to do it forever. After we removed the old green paint, it was time to apply the lacquer. it gave the shiny look i was looking for and after i painted the rim and the rings on the hub black the wheel was as good as new.

I decided to use 6 bulbs because this kind of bulbs were only 25 watt . I used 6 sockets and i measured the cable so they can be between the spokes so the light can go not only above the chandelier, but below.

i fixed the cable with a staple gun and the sockets by using wood screws

The chandelier was heavy so i had to figure out a safe way to hang it. to be sure that is not going to fall i decided to make four point hanging. I drilled 4 " + " type holes in the rim of the wheel. Each hole was against a spoke and the screw was long enough to go through the felloe and in to the spoke.

The shelter wasn't that high - about 2.7 meters and i had to make the chandelier to reach no more than 2 meters in the lowest part. The wheel was about 40 cantimeters wide so the distance between the roof  and the wheel had to be no more than 30 cantimeters. With the chain i had i measured that i need 29 pieces of chain in the both directions of the hanging. So i needed to do some welding to to. I cut the two pieces of chain on the both ends so i can weld it together with the screw.

For the placing i needed a piece of chain tha t i put between the panelling and the beam. After attaching the chandelier i lead the cable along one of the chains and plug it in the electricity.