Hello, all. I heard about the Coffee Cup Challenge, and as a self-proclaimed tree-hugger, I just had to do an 'ible! My first on at that. So, I laid back in my bed and
thought about what I could do, when I realized...my freakin' ceiling fan had no light bulb cover. So, I was being blinded. This led me to make my very own coffee cup
chandelier. =] The process is VERY simple and VERY fast. Could take about 10-15 minutes if you aren't watching your husband...or wife play Call of Duty. Enjoy.

Step 1: Materials

What you'll need:

A various amount of paper coffee cups (please do not go buy the cups, it defeats to purpose of recycling). I had 32, but only used 7. I will add more to my chandelier later, to make it more spherical and well. Pretty.

Scissors

Glue

Tape

Either a lamp without a shade or a lamp with one of those paper ball lampshades. I used my bare ceiling fan light.

Edit: Make sure to use a low volt lightbulb, mine is a like a 10 watt energy efficient one. This will eliminate me having to make a 'ible on rebuilding your house after it catches fire. =P

Step 2: I'm Such a Cutter...of Cups.

Start to cut the bottoms off of your collected paper cups. This proved a bit difficult, as it's hard to follow the curve of the cup with scissors. I late found out the just poking a hole and tearing the bottoms off worked much better and faster. Do what you feel is easier.

Step 3: Glue Time!

Now, one at a time, yes...one at a time, glue your cups together. Place a inch line of glue a bit from the bottom of the cup and stick it to another. Hold it until stiffly stuck. Now, keep doing this until you get a form (as spherical as you want, meaning the more cups you have the more of a sphere is will become). As my ceiling fan's light...uhm...vicinity? is not that big, I couldn't go full chandelier, but it serves it's purpose!

When you glue the cups together...try keeping the top of the lips of the cup even, for a more clean cut look. =] They tend to want to be either on top or bottom, but make them kiss straight! Get it? Lips...kiss? I'm here all day folks.

PS.

For added structural strength, I tapped where the bottom and lips of the cup met. To keep them from pulling away from eachother.

Step 4: Big Bertha

Because I want to fully enjoy a paper cup chandelier, I will be making a full one using a paper lantern style lampshade.

BTW, try using different colored lightbulbs! You can end up with beautiful works of art. Or maybe different color cups? OR OR OR OR...uhm. You can make a lit flower style..with the lamp stand as the stem? Or for you manly people out there...maybe a glowing blue one, reminiscent of a sticky bomb on Halo. =]

Like this one!