Construction
Frame
The frames are welded rings with jump rings braised on. This provides a rigid structure and precise positioning for hanging the pendants.
Crystal Strands
A small metal o-ring serves as the frame for each pendant. First, I cut a pile of crystal strands to the proper length, then use wire wrapping to space them out and attach them to the o-ring. 3 layers reaches a good balance of light diffusion and effort.
Hanger
The pendant hangers are built from jewelry chain, jump rings, and key rings. The strips attached in a similar fashion, but use wire wrapping to create the attachment point on the strip.
LED Strips
The lighting is IP67 WS2812B strips cut down to size. After soldering on new connectors, I added silicone caps, filled them with silicone sealant, and fitted them on to the protective cover.
Hanger
The chandelier is supported by small hanger chains. Using the same jump rings the pendants are hanging from allows the chain to look continuous and positions them securely.
Future Work
I’d like to replace the wiring with enameled wire like you seen in fair lights. This will allow the cabling to blend into the chain and avoid detracting from the light, airy feel.
Early Prototypes
In this photo, you can see an early attempt at the wire wrapping, this just looped the wire over the o-ring and around the crystal strand. This proved to be far too loose.
In these photos, you can see first two versions of the hanger. The first is made entirely out of the wire to get something put together quickly. The second is made from two o-rings separated by wire. The thought here was that the LED strip could be secured inside the smaller o-ring ensuring that it hung straight. This proved to be unwieldy and unnecessary.
