The Chandelier Blog

Apartament Therapy:

Five arm crystal chandelier, for the nursery.

$538.00.

Gawker:

Hip chandeliers, those demanding and ornate confections of light and contemporary matériel. They aren’t Richard Kelly’s Four Seasons chandelier. Neither are they the conservative affairs hanging above customers of One if By Land Two if By Sea. No, these are the slick lighting ornaments that shout “Look at me, I’m hip!” On the inside, they look something like a freshly slimmed-down dad trying to sleep with his daughter’s friends on the hood of his “new” vintage Mustang.

The ideal hip chandelier contrasts Lucite and crystal, or is composed of die-cast metal, or of wine glasses. Other chandeliers, and one in particular, are “hip” by virtue of their strange topographical placement. But all communicate something about what the restaurant intends to give its guests.

Take Midtown’s Amalia, for instance, and the basement portion, D’Or. Upstairs, black seemingly velvet-clad chandeliers hang in one room, evoking a sort of sombre debased elegance, like an upscale Trash and Vaudeville…

Modern Mechanix:

This chandelier of bullets was made at the Ford Willow Run testing field where Liberator bombers, manufactured at the rate of one an hour, try out their .50-cal. machine guns. The giant magnet retrieves the spent bullets from the backstop so that they can be melted down for salvage.

Design Muse:

Mixing antique chandeliers with bright colors and stark fabrics creates modern appeal without feeling cold.

These 7″ wall square are by DuffyLondon and available for $25 at 2jane.

Channel News Asia:

… Launched on Sunday, the biennale runs until Nov 21.

After eight months of using 1,200 lotuses to painstakingly “sculpt” a chandelier, artist Jason Lim smashed the work to bits at the opening of the Singapore pavilion on Thursday night, to gasps and applause from the crowd.

In Buddhism, the lotus symbolises rebirth, and the “death” of the chandelier marked the “birth” of the pavilion.

Themed “Figments, Fictions and Fantasies”, the $700,000 Singapore pavilion was a dreamscape of man-dog creatures in cemeteries, a padded room that looked to have come straight out of an asylum and a futuristic sound dome with plush red cushions…

WBIR.com:

You don’t need to replace a light fixture if you’re tired of what you have. All it needs is a coat of paint as Rick Allen from “Rick’s House” on WNOX Saturday mornings shows us. HOWEVER, if you don’t know what you’re doing when it comes to working with electrical wires, hire someone who does.

We removed the chandelier and hung it in the garage so we can work on all sides of it. We used a deep red spray primer to coat the gold first. After it fried we sprayed on flat black. But, we let some of the primer show through to give it a rustic look. I also made mini lampshades for the lights, but ended up taking those off after a couple of days. (They reminded me of a spider!)

Without the lampshades (that cost me around $20), it cost about 10 bucks in products to paint the chandelier… now that’s a deal!

Chicago Tribune:

Choosing a chandelier can be hard. Keeping it clean can be even harder. Here are some experts’ suggestions on how to tackle both challenges:

Selection
- Size and purpose: Consider the length of the fixture, interior designer Lara Fishman says. How far down will it hang? Is it surface-mounted? Do you want it to be decorative or functional? In a baby’s room, a chandelier may be used for sparkle, but in a larger room, it may need to be brighter.

- Scale: Don’t be put off by large chandeliers, Fishman says. The boundaries of scale can be pushed a bit.

Cleaning
- No ammonia: “If it’s a crystal chandelier, there is no easy way to clean it,” says Peter Manukyan, owner of Filament Lighting in Los Angeles, which specializes in the restoration of old fixtures. Spray cleaners that contain ammonia can hurt the metal parts of fixtures, he says. They also can affect wiring and sockets.

- Vinegar, soap: Clean removable parts with dish detergent or, better yet, vinegar and water. Wipe down immovable parts with a good cloth.

- Maintenance: Smoking and cooking can leave a film and attract dust. “Keep the dust off as much as possible,” Manukyan says. “Then you won’t have a bigger mess.” Dust regularly or use canned air — the same kind used for computer keyboards.

Also read the: Resources.

The State Journal:

The sculpture hanging as a chandelier in the entryway of the Christian Life Center under construction at First United Methodist Church reflects a significant experience in religious history.

“It’s gorgeous, beautiful,” said church member Mildred Browning as she watched artists put together the 9-foot glass structure Friday. “I can see the flames leaping out of the design.”

The red, orange and yellow glass represents the fire of the Holy Spirit described in the book of Acts. According to the Biblical account, when the disciples gathered to pray after Jesus’ death, tongues of fire appeared to them and rested on each, signifying the time God first filled men with his Holy Spirit.

Glass artist Brook Forrest White Jr., with Flame Run studio and gallery in Louisville, said forming the chandelier stretched him technically and spiritually. White’s design proposal was chosen because it was the best illustration of fire, church members say.

“For me it was a great way to tangibly show my belief,” White said.

He worked with heat and color to transform tubes of glass into curling, licking flames, which burst from three separate glass bowls that hang down from a metal frame. The three bowls represent the trinity ” Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“Blowing the glass was the easy part,” White said. “It was the technical and electrical know-how that was a little harder.”

Assembling the sculpture took several hours by White and metal artist Bryan Holden.

Church members watched and commented as the light went up. “It’s very artistic. I’d say it’s also a bit unusual,” Browning said.

The Brooklyn Paper:

Doing the Lord’s work took on a new meaning as a massive antique chandelier at Park Slope’s Old First Reformed Church was given a good scrubbing for the first time in 12 years.

On Monday, more than 60 college-aged volunteers came from the Gibbsville Reformed Church in Wisconsin began the dirty job.

“It’s good to be doing what God wants us to do,” said Teirdra Miller, a freshman at Northern Wisconsin Technical College.

The volunteers scrubbed away 12 years of oxidization from the 30-foot, 116-year-old brass chandelier.

“They had the smallest girls of the group at the top of the scaffolding cleaning because nobody else could fit,” said Rev. Daniel Meeter, the Old First pastor.

The fixture’s four rings of lights were replaced with long-lasting, energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs — or “Bloomberg bulbs,” as the green-minded Meeter calls them.

“They may look tacky, but we’ll get used to them eventually — it’s both an ethical decision as well as aesthetic.”

The group — which called itself “the Transformers” - broke up into 2 groups: skilled workers and “hands,” according to Luke Schouten, the group’s organizer. “They help accomplish those tasks.”

PR GB:

Chandelier is exactly any light that hangs from the ceiling of a home. Most people think about crystal chandelier as they hear the word chandelier.

Most people relate crystal chandeliers with ornate, baroque decorating styles. There are thousands of styles of crystal chandeliers for you to choose from, which you can hang on your dining room, living room or foyer. Whenever you plan to put the crystal chandelier, it will definitely add beauty and spark to your home.

There are some steps that you should follow in purchasing the right crystal chandelier for your home. These would help you to make sure that the crystal chandelier you purchase can fit your home.

You have to measure the height of the room where you will hang your crystal chandelier. The crystal chandelier should not exceed 30 inches above your head. It will appear dwarfed, if you hung it too high.

You have to consider the exact room you prepare to hang your crystal chandelier. Different rooms entitle to have different crystal chandelier style and size. There are some guidelines that you can use in order for you to determine the size. If you will put crystal chandelier to your living room, you have to choose crystal chandelier that is 20 to 30 percent of your living room’s width. If you have to hang it on your entrance hall, you have to choose crystal chandelier that is 30 to 40 percent of your foyer’s width. If you plan to put the crystal chandelier at your dining room, you have to choose crystal chandelier that is 1.5 to 2 feet wide if you have a six person dining table; if your dining table is an eight person, then you have to choose crystal chandelier that is 2.0 to 2.5 feet wide; for 10 to 12 people, you have to choose one that is 2.5 to 3.5 feet wide. Read more.