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Step 5Finishing the Construction
Ok, at this point you should have 1/2 of a sparkle ball, with lights installed, tested, hot glued into place, and all done.
Put this part aside, and get out your plastic serving tray, the soldering iron, and the fan!
First thing we will do is make a "keyhole" for hanging your Sparkleball. Press your hot iron into and through the serving tray, about 2 to 3 inches from an edge. Now continue to push through until the 'fat" part of your iron has gone through the serving platter.
Pulling the iron back out until just the skinny part of the iron is touching, slowly push the skinny part towards the edge of the platter, about 1/2 of an inch in travel distance. Look closely at the pictures, it shows you what shape you are trying to achieve. With the larger and then smaller hole, your Sparkleball will slip over about any nail or screw head, and then 'hang' without threat of falling!
Using the same hot soldering iron you can make a hole near the opposite edge of your tray, that is large enough to put your plug (prong) end of the light string through. Option 2 here is to cut the wire before it exits the tray, leaving the longest possible section in one piece, make a small hole for the wire to exit, and then using your hot soldering iron, solder the ends back together, wrap the connections with electrical tape or shrink tubing, and you have a more professional looking power cord configuration. Here is a link for basic wire soldering 101.
In this example, I opened a hole using the soldering iron, then with a sharp knife I cut an additional "X" that I could force the plug through. It worked out OK!
Once you have the Hanging system figured out, and your electrical connection worked out, you can start attaching your half light ball. I place the tray flat on the work surface, using our clothes pins clip the plastic cups to the tray, and where they touch, we use the soldering iron and weld once again going through the cup and toughing the tray long enough to melt it. We found that the area actually welded did not seem adequate for us, so using the clear hot glue sticks we put a healthy bead of hot glue all the way around the tray where the cups touched the edge. Now this light is going NO where!
Put this part aside, and get out your plastic serving tray, the soldering iron, and the fan!
First thing we will do is make a "keyhole" for hanging your Sparkleball. Press your hot iron into and through the serving tray, about 2 to 3 inches from an edge. Now continue to push through until the 'fat" part of your iron has gone through the serving platter.
Pulling the iron back out until just the skinny part of the iron is touching, slowly push the skinny part towards the edge of the platter, about 1/2 of an inch in travel distance. Look closely at the pictures, it shows you what shape you are trying to achieve. With the larger and then smaller hole, your Sparkleball will slip over about any nail or screw head, and then 'hang' without threat of falling!
Using the same hot soldering iron you can make a hole near the opposite edge of your tray, that is large enough to put your plug (prong) end of the light string through. Option 2 here is to cut the wire before it exits the tray, leaving the longest possible section in one piece, make a small hole for the wire to exit, and then using your hot soldering iron, solder the ends back together, wrap the connections with electrical tape or shrink tubing, and you have a more professional looking power cord configuration. Here is a link for basic wire soldering 101.
In this example, I opened a hole using the soldering iron, then with a sharp knife I cut an additional "X" that I could force the plug through. It worked out OK!
Once you have the Hanging system figured out, and your electrical connection worked out, you can start attaching your half light ball. I place the tray flat on the work surface, using our clothes pins clip the plastic cups to the tray, and where they touch, we use the soldering iron and weld once again going through the cup and toughing the tray long enough to melt it. We found that the area actually welded did not seem adequate for us, so using the clear hot glue sticks we put a healthy bead of hot glue all the way around the tray where the cups touched the edge. Now this light is going NO where!
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