DIY Faux Capiz Shell Chandelier

I've always liked the look of capiz shell chandeliers. I wanted one for my office/craft room.

Isn't it lovely? Plus, when there's a breeze, it makes a wonderful little tinkling noise like a delicate wind chime.

Unfortunately, they're very, very expensive.

I wanted to see if I could re-create it with things I already had around my house. Apparently, other people have thought the same thing! I saw this fun DIY tutorial a few months ago and wanted to re-create it for my craft room. The only problem was that I don't own a sewing machine. Plus, this tutorial is for a standing lamp and I wanted it to hang from the ceiling.

To begin with, my ceiling sconce isn't much to look at. I thought I could cover it with a bunch of strands of faux capiz shells and also have some hanging from it somehow.




The tutorial mentions using an old lampshade to make the circles. I didn't have one, so I decided to use plastic cups! They were something I already had in the pantry and sort of had the same look as a capiz shell. I punched out what seemed like a billion circles (non-ribbed white plastic cups work best for punching out the most circles) Instead of sewing the circles together, (which I think would have torn them in half) I opted to using a needle and white thread and with one stitch on top and one on the bottom, I was able to string them together into strands. This part took forever! If I were to do it again, I would try to find out a quicker way. The only kind of tape for sticking them on to the sconce that worked was masking tape, since the heat from the bulbs made other tapes peel off. This isn't the prettiest tape, and it's clearly visible in some areas. I had more strands up previously, but they fell because of the heat from the bulbs.

Here's the end result! What do you think?