Decorative glass luminaires, how they are made

There are countless options in decorative lighting on the market. They come in all prices, colours, styles, materials, shapes… The possible combinations are inexhaustible.

However, today we offer you some luminaires that, almost certainly, you will not find in any store. Therefore, you will have a unique decorative element that will be the envy of your guests.

And best of all, you will have the satisfaction of being able to say… “You like it, right? It’s super original right? Well, I did it.”

In short, we are going to show you, step by step, how to do luminaires super original decorative and relatively easy to make.

We are going to show you three variants of the same luminaire but, from there, you can give free rein to your imagination.

It is a DIY that you can fully customize. Without going any further, one of the variants that we propose is to adapt it to these dates, giving it a Christmas touch.

However, if, instead of glass, you want to see how to make lamps entirely in wax, we leave you this link so you can see our article on how to make wax lanterns.

You can see in this photo that they are decorative indoor lamps, inside which there is a candle. As the lampshade is made of glass, you can use both wax candles and simulation LED candles without any problem.

It is an easy craft, relatively quick to do, but at the same time, very colorful. Be sure to see how they are made.

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Necessary materials

In the first place, we will indicate what are the materials and tools necessary to be able to make these decorative luminaires.

Here it is a matter of taste. However, I advise you that those with rounded shapes are better, since the squares are a bit complicated to reach the edges.

The ideal hedge leaves for this DIY are those of the type of hedge called “tuya”, since, in addition to being very beautiful and aesthetic, they are completely flat. Therefore, they come to us like a glove.

Choose some candles in the shape and color that you like the most, but keep in mind that the thickness and height should be in line with the size of the vase.

The glitter is optional since, as you can see, two of our three proposals do not have it.

Nothing more is needed.

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How to make decorative lights

As usual, below we are going to leave you in writing, step by step and illustrated with photographs, how to do this original DIY. However, to make learning more enjoyable, first of all we include the video tutorial so you can see the procedure live and directly.

Make yourself comfortable and… ACTION!

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Video tutorial Decorative luminaires

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Steps to follow

Now we are going to leave you in writing each of the steps that you must carry out to make these luminaires.

Step 1 – Choice of materials to use

The glass lampshades

The first thing we have to do is choose the tulips, vases or glass containers that we are going to use. This choice includes size, shape, style, glass color, etc.

The choice is yours alone, but you must take into account one aspect: the edges or corners are more complicated to work with than in the case of rounded vases, where the lines are smooth curves.

Leaves

In addition to the lampshade, we also have to choose the leaves that will be attached to it.

I tell you the same as before. You have the last word. However, I recommend the leaves of a kind of hedge, called “tuyas”, since they are elegant, flexible and completely flat, so they come in handy for this craft.

Once we have a good bouquet, we select one by one the stems that we will use.

The candles

As they will go inside the lampshades, you can use both traditional wax candles and imitation LED ones.

They should be chosen in a size proportional to that of the tulips, so that they are more or less in line.

Ok,… once selected, we have to look for a base that provisionally raises the vases for us only while the leaves are being glued.

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Step 2 – Pasting phase

Before entering the gluing phase, we will briefly see what product we will use and how we will do it.

What product will we use?

We will use contact adhesive but, this time, it is spray. So its application is very easy.

Its use has been recommended by our friends at Novasol Spray. Here is a link to the permanent spray adhesive product, in case you want to take a look at it.

Below I highlight three of the aspects that we find when dealing with a contact adhesive:

• It is used to join a wide variety of materials.

• The resulting joint is very strong.

• It must be applied on both surfaces to be joined.

Well, continuing with the application of the adhesive, in the last workshop for bloggers that you attend and that our friends from Grupo Pyma organized, I did some tests with a small applicator, which I had not seen before.

This little accessory makes spray painting much more comfortable.

On small jobs like this one, you don’t really appreciate the comfort it brings. But on larger jobs, once you get used to using it, that’s when you really miss it.

Its assembly is done in a second, fitting it into the neck of the boat, horizontally. And it is ready to use.

Ok, with that being said, let’s continue…

How will we do it?

The leaves that we have selected in the previous step, we put them with their back facing up, and we apply the adhesive.

We proceed in a similar way with glass luminaires.

Keep in mind that this type of adhesive should be applied at a distance of approximately 30 centimeters.

Before joining both surfaces, we must allow the solvents contained in the adhesive to evaporate, which occurs between one and five minutes.

How can we know the optimal time to perform the union? When the adhesive no longer sticks to the touch.

We will cover approximately the bottom two thirds of the fixture. And, so that the lower part of it is well dense, we must put the sheet protruding from the base.

Now we are placing all the leaves on the luminaire, in the position that we have decided.

Keep in mind that once both surfaces have come into contact, it is impossible or very difficult to rectify the position. So this step must be done with great tact.

Once all the sheets are placed, let them dry.

Once the adhesive is dry, we cut the excess of the sheets with normal scissors.

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Step 3 – Making three variations

As we said before, there are infinite combinations and, therefore, the final results will be equally unique.

At this point, we propose three different finishes, so that they can serve as a starting point for making your own customizations.

Option A

The first variant that we have carried out has been with glitter on its upper part. In this way the lower part of the glass is decorated with the leaves of yours, and the upper part with the glitter.

In this option, if you don’t want to be picking up glitter year after year, you should give a coat of varnish, at least, on the top, although we, since we were on, have given the whole set.

For this, we have used water-based spray varnish. Ideal for this DIY.

Once applied, let it dry.

This option can be used perfectly for Christmas decoration, since the glitter gives it a Christmas touch.

Option B

Another possible variant, we have done it by projecting adhesive on the upper part, to give a kind of translucent roughness to the glass.

The truth is that we expected a better result, however this could be another possible option.

Here we have also varnished, once the adhesive is dry, the entire luminaire.

Option C

And in the last variant, we are going to try to leave the glass on the top completely clean.

Therefore, before doing anything, we have started by protecting the upper half of the luminaire with paper and masking tape.

Once protected, we apply the adhesive both on the glass and on the sheets, exactly the same as in the two previous variants.

While the solvents of the adhesive evaporate, we take the opportunity to remove the paper protection that we had put on, then put the sheets of yours in its place.

Then we let the adhesive dry as well.

Here, so that the glass remains completely clean and does not stain us, before giving the varnish, we must protect it with masking tape and paper, exactly as before.

Once this is done, we apply the varnish on the hedge leaves, remove the protection, and let dry.

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Step 4 – Finishing the lights

At this point, it only remains to insert the candles. If we have bought them in the right size, nothing. But otherwise, we must cut or lengthen them. In the latter case, we must join the two pieces of candle with wax. To do this, we light a third candle, pour its melted wax over the other two to be joined and, immediately, join them.

Finally, to fix the candles inside the luminaire, we pour a few drops of melted wax inside it, in the center, and place the candle in its location. Once the wax that we have poured cools, the candle will be fixed.

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Well, that’s it!!

Don’t tell me it turned out great.

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Which of the three options that we have proposed do you like the most?

Leave us your option in the comments of this article or the video.

Can you think of any other option?

Send us photos of the manufacturing process and the final result, and we will include them in this article.

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