How to Make a Teapot Chandelier

A teapot chandelier can provide you with a unique look for a dining room. Prices start at around $400 and can go into the thousands. But with patience, some mail-order components, and your own creativity and patience, you should be able to create a good reproduction.

Things You'll Need

• Teapot
• Assorted cups, bowls and saucers
• 2, 3 or 4-light chandelier cluster body
• Chandelier arms, 2, 3 or 4; hollow for wiring
• 2, 3 or 4 candle covers
• Candelabra base sockets
• Candelabra bulbs
• Screw collar loop and ring for ceiling
• Chain for hanging
• Optional satin chain cover
• Power drill
• Ceramic drill bit
• Hole saw bit
• Tub and tile adhesive caulk or super glue
• Needle-nose pliers
• Wire stripper
• Wire nuts
• Masking tape
• Safety glasses
• Hanging chandelier kit or parts
• Candle covers
• Candle shades or crystal bulb covers
• Decorative crystal beads, beaded chains or prisms (optional)
• Chandelier catalog for parts (optional)
• Note: parts can be metal, crystal or painted metal

Instructions

Assemble Tools, Plan It Out, Install and Light

1. 

   Lay out all your parts so you can have everything at a reach. With a power drill that is armed with a ceramic drill bit, drill a hole through the teapot lid, and another through the bottom of the teapot. You can put a piece of tape around the drill area, if you are afraid it will break. You can start the hole with whatever ceramic bit is smallest, and then enlarge it enough for the wiring to pass through it. The main electrical cord will run through the teapot lid and body as if it were the column on a regular chandelier.

2. 

   Drill holes through the center of four (or however many chandelier arms you want) saucers and through the bottom of four teacups. The teacups will each hold a candle sleeve with a bulb unit at the end---the light bulb gets screwed into a bulb base. Make sure that the holes you drill in the saucer and teacups line-up perfectly and are wide enough to accommodate the wiring that will be fed through it.

3. 

   One large group of multi-strand wire will run from the ceiling down with the hanging chain, through the hole on the teapot lid, the teapot itself and into the cluster base. The wire units will be inserted through the chandelier arms, up through the saucer, into the teacup, where you will place a bulb socket at the end and cover that with a candle cover.
   The bulb will be screwed into the bulb socket at the end of the candle holder. Check chandelier drawings, charts or books to make sure your wiring works the same way.

4. 

   Wiring the chandelier begins at the ceiling outlet. The ceiling mount is a box that holds all the electricity that will run through your chandelier. If you have any doubts at all about assembly, hire a professional electrician to do this part. The wires will need to be joined together and put into a wire nut for safety.
   Cut off electrical power before you begin.
   Basically, the fixture wires are a bundle of black and white wires and a ground. The white source wire is stripped (if needed), twisted together and fixed into a wire nut. The black source wire is also twisted and affixed into a wire nut. The ground wire is put under the ground screw on the crossbar.
   The rest of the wire ends go down with the fixture chain and into the top lid of the teapot, then they are threaded through the teapot body and out the bottom of the teapot and into the chandelier cluster. The cluster dispenses the wire out to the individual arms.

5. 

   You will be attaching the chandelier cluster body to the bottom of the teapot. Remember that this piece holds the chandelier arms, which spoke out to the sides to hold the saucers and the teacups, almost like an octopus, but with only four arms (or 2 or 3).
   Use either instant glue (that will adhere china, porcelain and other stoneware) or tub and tile adhesive caulk---whichever you feel more comfortable working with. Put the teapot and the cluster body together (either with screws or fixative).
   Glue a saucer and teacup together for each arm because at the end of each arm you will place a saucer and a teacup.

6. 

   Feed the wires through the chandelier arms, then up through the bottom of the saucer and the bottom of the cup. Attach the light bulb sockets to the wire ends, push a candle cover over the wire---it holds everything straight up and down. Put the arms into the cluster body and screw in with their own screw attachments.
   Add light bulbs and shades, voilà!
   Turn the power back on and flip the switch.

Tips & Warnings

• Flea markets and fairs are great places to pick up your cups, saucers and teapots. Be creative with your choice of teacup and saucer. They can match your china pattern or mismatched looks great too. Try different combinations. An illustrated guide to chandeliers and wiring will help you to picture your project. Pick one up at your library. Look in craft. hobby, home improvement or lighting stores for inspiration.

• Always turn the electricity off before attempting any wiring whatsoever.

Resources

• ChandelierParts.com for arms, bowls, breaks and columns parts
• Unique, superior Chandeliers by Madeleine Boulesteix
• GrandBrass.com Chandelier parts in metal
• DIY Make a Teacup Light