Confession: It’s late January and I’m still not over Christmas. I don’t care if yesterday was MLK Day, I’m not past my yuletide cheer. The boxes have been put away for a couple weeks now but I set aside a few goodies to get me through the winter. Listen, a gal needs her sparkles!
I bought this chandelier (I call her “Mrs. Snow” because that isn’t creepy at all) three years ago. And as much as she makes my heart happy all by her sparky self, now seems as a good of a time as any to give her a modern makeover. Some hot pink geometric hemmili ornaments? Why the hell not.
When I made these ornaments last december for my funky junk tree, I assumed they would be hard to store and therby I might want to make enough to turn into a full scale himmeli (see the one I made in 2012) but then things took a different turn. As much as a love the geometric shapes on their own, I love them even more when mixed into something goofy and sparkled up.
To Make
Each ornament (lets call them that for now as I don’t know the correct geometric name) (feel fee ego chime in the comments if you know), requires 5 drinking straws and about two yards of fine gage wire. I have seem himmeli tutorials pop up all over the web the last couple years, and they are great, but they all use a needle and thread, which is awesome, but it will take you twice as long. Easily. Do yourself a favor and get some fine gage wire (mine here is a 28) you’ll thank me for that one.
I mentioned the part about tucking the wire tails inside if you want the shape to stand alone like mine. If you want to hang them from a tree or tie them together into a larger structure, go for it! Luckily, I didn’t have to tie anything onto the chandelier – I just slipped them over the bulbs and that was it. It may not look Christmas, but I can feel the Christmas, and that is enough to get me through January. That and Downtown Abbey.
Got the bug to make something awesome with straws? Here are the instructions for the decahedron himmeli I made in 2012. It’s a great way to kill an afternoon!
I believe that is an octahedron. I think it would be lots of fun to make some out of the fun paper straws I have. I’m not over Christmas yet either. I like a little more whimsy and sparkle in my days than the rest of my family it seems.
I’ve always contended that since it is the holiday “season”, 3 months isn’t unreasonable to have decorations up!
I’m with you Amy!
There’s nothing wrong with keeping Christmas sparkles up during January. It’s still cold and probably snowy (up in your part of the country, anyway), so why not? Besides, these are pink, so they are perfectly fine to segue right into February on the long march to Valentine’s Day. Add some snowflakes and you’ve got yerself a fine chandelier that befits the Mrs. Snow moniker!