Turning a garden Gazing ball into decorative light.

I was sitting on the back porch one day, looking at the large glass gazing ball we have next to the back door and thought that would look real cool lighted up at night, so that is what I did.

Step 1 Collect the parts:

The parts required fo this project are:

1 large transparent glass gazing ball, a non-transpartent ball would be sort of against the idea here
1 large rubber stopper that fits the hole in the base of the ball
1 light bulb socket, one without the pull chain
1 lamp rod
1 piece of lamp cord, can be scavenged from an old lamp or you could get a section of new and get a plug for the end, I used an extention cord with a rotory switch already installed.
1 inline rotory switch that attaches to the cord
1 light bulb about 25 watts seems to work good, make sure that is well fit throught the hole

Tools:
Drill and drill bits, to put a hole in the rubber stoper
hacksaw to cut the lamp rod
wire cutter
screewdriver

Warning: This project should only be done by someone that is proficient in electrical wiring and knows how make proper connection, as we are dealing with something that is going to be connected to live household current and could seriouslly shock you if not done right.

Comments

[fearless clutz]

This is so cool. I'm going to try it with an outdoor stand and motion sensor light socket. Then I'll have extra light at the door when I come home.

[Ohm]

Thats a cool idea, I was thinking of redoing mine with LEDs cannibalized from a set of solar spotlights and make it solar powered.

[Ohm]

It was originally a glass gazing ball, not the typical one that is mirrored obviouslly, it is now a colorfull glass lantern, as the instrucable shows you how to convert the decorative ball into a functioning lamp.

[finfan7]

i don't mean to be a pain i just am a real stickler for using the right name to describe something. it can lead to confusion in other circumstances and if you allow it in small things it becomes more acceptable in bigger things. my point being this. that is not a garden gazing ball it is more accurately described as a colourful glass lantern. A gazing ball is a mirrored sphere. again sory but it bugs me

[Ohm]

Because I meant to take photos of the thing today and finnish the thing up, I ran out of time yesterday to take photos so I figured I could at least do the right up and then go back and add the photos when I had a chance, again I ran out of time so sorry in advance for not getting the photos up. As for why one needs a gazing ball to look at there garden, I don't know that is why I made it into a light so it would be more usefull.

[Ohm]

Got the photos taken.

[trebuchet03]

this of course makes me ask... do you really need some sort of ball ot gaze at your garden? :P

[leevonk]

what's with all these instructables that are posted before they're done, I'm a little confused about the logic...

[Ohm]

Sorry no pics yet, I did this about a month ago and didn't take photos then, I go and pull it apart tomorrow and take pics of it being put together as it is real simple. I think aside from buying all the bits that I didn't have the whole thing took me about 30 min. to make.