Mason Jar Candle Chandeliers

Create your own shabby chic candle chandeliers for your wedding or other great space.

My fiance and I are getting married October 15th of this year.  We met at summer camp six years ago, started dating just over four years ago and as of this spring we are set to be married.  Erin is a wonderfully stylish woman and she has a great eye for design (she's a budding photographer and took most of these pictures for me) and I appreciate her love for shabby chic design because it's all stuff I can build and make for her.  Our wedding will take place at the camp where we met and then we will have the reception a great venue called Brookside Farms in Louisville Ohio.

Besides being a beautiful venue, they are also exceptionally accomodating with decorations and this led to among other great ideas, a wonderful set of chandeliers made from mason jars, a wagon wheel, barrel hoops, wire and some twine.

 

Step 1: Forming the Wire Hanger

Safety is a big issue when you have open flames in a huge wooden building, so we decided that making a wire hoop to hang the jars on would be the safest way to go.  We tested the first run with taller candles then we plan to use so the flame would get as close to the twine as possible. 

The results:  we could not get it to burn even after letting it go for 6+ hours.


For this step you will need a coat hanger or other piece of wire as well as a pair of needle-nose and lineman pliers.

•Cut and strighten your coat hangar (don't worry about length--we will trim it later)

•Bend a small hook into one end of the wire

•Bend a loop the diameter of your wire (approximate).  The loop should be opposite the hook you just bent when you wrap the wire around the jar's neck (this distance just happened to be the length of the grip on my pliers)

•Bend the wire between the hook and the loop into a 'C' shape

Comments

[1inspirit]

PERFECT, ON SO MANY LEVELS !

[lrosas1]

new try to upload the photos

[lrosas1]

Here's mine

[kmarie17]

I did the exact same thing! We ended up using a bunch of pickle jars and baby food jars, as well as some glass frosting paint for a few to give it a little variety. I never thought of using a coat hanger, though! We just used spare wire we had around the house. (:

[siskk]

Love Mason Jars, I have seen many versions of this and they are all awesome! Hope your wedding went well. I will be making a chandelier for my porch this spring.
Nice job.

[bree.jay]

What a wonderful idea! This could even be used as an awesome and unique way to store canned goods.

Congratulations & all the best on your big day!

[twobee_]

Well done! It's awesome! :D
It would be even more beautiful if you spray the jars using a mat varnish, don't you think? :)

[porcupinemamma]

I like the idea! I wonder if the varnish would catch fire???

[twobee_]

I made it once (but not the same projet. Just similar).. using candles too. And it works! :)

The varnish I use is made to use on paper. It is the only one I have at home. But you can read the instructions and see if the product is flammable or if it resist in high temperatures.

^^

[porcupinemamma]

Deeeeeeeeeeeee- LIGHT -ful !!!

[mstark77]

The steps for bending the wire are great. Thank you for being so thorough and adding pictures. Just bought an old house and found about 90 mason jars in the basement. I want to make a bunch of hanging lanterns out of them, and now it should be easier.

[Nelyan]

Guess who now wants to start planning our own wedding :D I think I could do this even way before, it would make a stylish chandelier for subtle halloween-lights.

[hammer9876]

Beautiful!

Just be careful to blow the candles out before they go "dry." I have seen a candle in a glass container burn all the way down to nothing. The glass then cracked from the heat and ruined the finish on a dining room table. We were in the next room when we heard it, but it was already too late to save the finish. Some water between the jars and the candle holders might help, but in any case, keep an eye on them.

Best wishes!

[pacwoods]

some sand in the bottom of the jars keeps the glass isolated from the heat.
Maybe .25 to 1.0 inch worth of sand.

[Alderin]

This comment made me think, which is always nice. :-)

Colored water in the bottom of the jars could make for an interesting effect.

The glass container cracking usually is because thin glass was used, so the heat doesn't spread evenly enough to prevent the different rates of expansion from causing failure. Mason jars are thicker and specifically planned for high temperatures, so I don't think it would be a concern in this case.

Then there is the added weight of the water on the twine.

Personally, I'd swap the twine to the jars for straightened coat-hangers (maybe artfully twisted & looped) which would solve the weight and fire concerns.

[shawnanderson]

Could you also use wire hangers to hang the jars? That would eliminate the possibility of twine catching fire and make it a little easier to hang them at the venue...

[jalet]

This is a very useful, unusual and rustic work that would be a neat addition to an outdoor patio. On another level, I think if you were to use the frame and spot weld 3 legs around it. maybe even rebar for the legs, it would make a stunning standing luminary as a focal point, especially set in a garden dry-rock river bed setting.

[skiedra]

Nice instructable!

What about rain? If it rains into the jar, it'll get heavy and fall eventually...?

[eross-1]

This is so neat! Where is this? I'm in Ohio (cleveland) and I've never heard of it, it looks like a cool place.

[phish814]

It's in Louisville which is just east of Canton on rt.62

[jessyratfink]

These are gorgeous. I'm definitely going to keep this one in mind. :D