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Step 5Cut the scrap off
So, you've installed a bunch of stars and now have strands of fiber hanging into your ceiling. Before you cut it, turn the lights out and play with your squid... it's pretty trippy. Once that fun is over you can resume. For me, this was 5 hours of GLEE.
Once this euphoria has passed, grab your nail clippers... which, dangit, I didn't show in my 'tools required' picture. I really hope that finding nail clippers in your house shouldn't be an issue. Anyway, grab the clippers, stand up on your ladder (dangit!!) and start cutting. You should clip the strands fairly close to the ceiling, but change it up as you go.
Also - they actually make a little cutter specifically for this purpose. It's $50. I checked it out at the store and the cutting mechanism looked VERY MUCH like nail clippers. The difference is that it's heated. The professionals will tell you that you get a much cleaner cut and therefore transmit more light if you use the right tools. I know from my own experimentation that cutting it in this way still allows for a lot of light. As I mentioned before, these 268 fiber optics provide enough light to read by. If I lost 10% due to my... improvised cutting, I can deal with that. $2 nail clippers or a $50 'diamond cleaver'. It's up to you.
For my installation, I worked in batches. Besides the ill-advised trip into a 120 degree attic, I knocked this out in 3 chunks. I took my first video after the first third was completed. Compare this to the final video and you can see what a difference a couple hundred stars makes.
Once this euphoria has passed, grab your nail clippers... which, dangit, I didn't show in my 'tools required' picture. I really hope that finding nail clippers in your house shouldn't be an issue. Anyway, grab the clippers, stand up on your ladder (dangit!!) and start cutting. You should clip the strands fairly close to the ceiling, but change it up as you go.
Also - they actually make a little cutter specifically for this purpose. It's $50. I checked it out at the store and the cutting mechanism looked VERY MUCH like nail clippers. The difference is that it's heated. The professionals will tell you that you get a much cleaner cut and therefore transmit more light if you use the right tools. I know from my own experimentation that cutting it in this way still allows for a lot of light. As I mentioned before, these 268 fiber optics provide enough light to read by. If I lost 10% due to my... improvised cutting, I can deal with that. $2 nail clippers or a $50 'diamond cleaver'. It's up to you.
For my installation, I worked in batches. Besides the ill-advised trip into a 120 degree attic, I knocked this out in 3 chunks. I took my first video after the first third was completed. Compare this to the final video and you can see what a difference a couple hundred stars makes.
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>:3
By the way you are a genius for finding this and I am SO doing this when I get my own place...
Not the same stuff that might be in your grandmas house. Aside from making your hands white (almost like drywall dust) and getting in your eyes like I can imagine Mike's did a few times, its pretty harmless.