Introduction: Corner Fairyjar Lights

By My Portfolio
About: As a 3D designer, I like to design things that make people smile. During my masters at the Delft University of Technology, I made sure to learn as much as I could about different methods for 3D printing and ra…

When decorating my new room I noticed a dark corner in my room. On pinterest and on the instructables website I found fairyjars which are Mason Jars filled with fairylights or Christmas lights. These are meant to put on tables and can be hung from strings. In this instructable you can find how I implemented the fairyjars into the corner of my room using 3Dprinting, soldering and hobby wire

Step 1: What Do You Need

For this project I collected stuff and tools over time. For the ones who want to recreate this project here is a list of the stuff and tools I used.

Stuff

Tools

  1. Ultimaker 2 (You can also use 3DHubs)
  2. Scissors for cutting the ribbon
  3. Hammer for the nails
  4. Pincers for cutting and molding the hobby wire
  5. Solderstation
  6. Drilling machine for the holes in the lids
  7. Haidryer for the shrinktubes

Step 2: 3Dprint Special Corner Support

I wanted to build a support that would let a rod rest at a corner of 45 degrees. I wanted to attach the rod with nails to my wall. In Rhinosceros I created this support element. When the Ultimaker 2+ at my school had some downtime I took the chance to print the elements. Important to note is that you need the element and a mirrored version to actually make it work. I also made sure that I set a high percentage of filling to create a higher density to support the weight of the jars. After printing, I used a knife and sanding paper to remove excess material.

Attachments

Step 3: Hobbywire and Pincers

With the hobbywire and the pincers I created a way to attach the jar to the rod. For every jar you need 3 wires. One long wire and 2 shorter wires. The long wire will be twisted into circles at the end and once halfway. Important to note is that it is favorable that the circles are the same size. After the long wire is put around the neck of the jar the two ends can be twisted to ensure that it fits snugly. The two shorter wires just need a u at each end that can be hooked in the circles.

Step 4: Hammertime

With the hammer and the small 1mm nails the supports and rod can be placed. Because the rod rests on the supports it is easy to place and replace the jars. If the jars do not seem to hang level feel free to adjust the circles at the sides or the location of the shorter wire

Step 5: Soldering

After drilling a big enough hole in the top of the jars the soldering can begin. I experimented with other fairy lights but keeping the battery pack and microcontroller of the Christmas lights. I wanted to keep these because it has 8 programmed settings and will turn off and on automatically each day. I also looked at which was the positive and the negative pole of the lights but it turns out they can be connected both ways which is nice. I cut the string in three and connected them with white wire through the lids. Don't forget to place the shrinking tubes. I used my hairdryer to shrink the tubes around the wire.

Step 6: Place the Lights in the Jar With the Burlap

Using the burlap ribbon and the lights try to layer and divide the density of the lights. You can use the stick to position them. Take in mind that the burlap on itself is flammable so do not place the lights to close to the burlap. Ask a friend to help you to carry the jars and rods and hang them up.

Step 7: Conclusion

I really enjoy my new light decoration. In the pictures, the lights seem bright white but in real life they are a lot warmer and add a lot of ambience to the room. In the future I would like to hide the battery pack with a pretty 3dprinted case but for now it works.