I have loved lights for as long as I can remember.I have created lights for our home from lots of different materials, including paper, fabric, and metal.
I used to create lights for craft and holiday bazaars to sell. So when I came up with the themes for my 13 days of Halloween projects, I knew I wanted to incorporate lighting. You can see the full list of themes below.
I had these fun lights hanging in my living room for the past several months and knew that I wanted to switch them out for something more spooky.
So I created a light with shadows in mind. A lot of spooky parts of Halloween to me are the shadows and lighting. Think things like candlelight, flickering light, dim forests, moonlight etc. So I wanted to mimic that look on my walls playing with shadows.
Materials:
- Wire basket
- Sticks/ branches cut
- Black flat spray paint
- black small zip ties
- Light hanging cord
- teacup hooks for hanging
- Clear light bulb
- Paper black crows
Step 1: Collect some cut branches and sticks
A neighbor of mine had given me these sticks about a month ago after pruning her bushes. Yes, I am that neighbor that collects other peoples yard debris and saves it for projects… no shame.
I had a different idea in mind originally when I got these sticks, but when I came up with a lighting theme, this idea sparked one day.
Step 2: Find a wire basket or bucket
I had this wire basket sitting in my basement for several months. These are common at many thrift stores, or home decor stores like TJ maxx. A small wire trash can or decor basket would work too.
All I had to do was connect the basket to the branches somehow. After a little bit of thinking, I thought, zip ties might be the perfect option for this.
Step 3: Connect the branches to the wire basket
The branches were already pretty small and so I didn’t have to do much trimming. I used the zip ties around in a circular motion, connecting the branches as I went.
After the whole thing was full, and I weaved a few loose branches in and out in the dead spaces.
Step 4: Paint
I took it outside to spray paint. I used a flat black spray paint from rust oleum. I laid down a sheet to protect my ground and spray painted all of the sticks and wire basket to be the same color.
Then once that dried, I flipped it over and did the inside as well so all of the edges of the sticks inside and out where the same color.
It took about 30 minutes to dry.
Step 5: Hanging with a light cord
After that, I used an IKEA cord that I had from my other lamp that was hanging in my living room. I restrung it through the wire basket center.
I used a teacup hook in my ceiling and hung the cord downwards using a bare bulb inside. I chose a bare bulb because I knew since I would be seeing it through the basket, the clear would cause really dramatic shadows.
I also had this metal star as coffee table decor that I found at a thrift store. I thought hanging it next to the stick light gave it a little bit of a witchy edge. I just hung it from a string and used another ikea light cord hanging down into the center of it.
When I turned off the lights at night, the shadows were so cool and definitely my favorite part of this project.
They cast long branches shadows all over my living room walls and ceiling. It gives the room a haunted forest vibe.
The next day I thought about adding some crows to it since that might create interesting shadow patterns on the walls and ceiling as well. I found these crows at dollar tree and just kind of set them in the branches. They’re a little bit big for the light fixture overall and I’m not 100% in love with it but it’s still a fun idea for Halloween.
I think overall this piece is cool enough and has a modern edge that could be used for more than just Halloween time. I might leave it up for a while.
If you create some thing for the 13 days of Halloween projects or want to, follow the list of themes and you can read more about the 13 days of Halloween projects at the blog post HERE.
I’m so excited to give away a toolbox to one participant in the challenge. You can also follow along on my Instagram page where I’m posting reels about a daily until Friday the 13th.
Come back for day three which is it repurposing something old to something new. I can’t wait to show you what I do!
-Amanda