Thursday, December 3, 2015

Recycled Aluminum Icicle Decor

Hello!  Look what I have been making!



These 'icicles' are light as a feather, and look awesome on a chandelier.  Or strung on a garland across a mantel...or hung in a tree...



True story...the day before yesterday, I was helping my husband with a cable pull, in which 1400 feet of electrical cable needed to be fed through 350 feet of underground conduit.

How is that done, you ask?  With a winch, a lot of swearing and a bucket of bright blue KY jelly to lube all the wires so they will go through the pipe.



You guessed it...my job was gooping on the jelly.  Blechhhh.

Anywho, there was a break in the action when the winch broke.  EXTRA special swearing was coming through the walkie talkie, but I was ignoring it.  Not my department!  I was on goop detail, and my union NAAJG (National Association of American Jelly Goopers) forbids any winch repairs.

Bored, I glanced around at the work site.  And found...these!  Scraps of thick aluminum wire, which is what's inside the electrical cable.



Yep, my hand was blue.  My hand is still blue.  Sigh.

So there were tons of these little wire scraps everywhere.  Suddenly, I got an idea.



I grabbed a screwdriver and twisted a wire scrap around and around.  The aluminum looks hefty, but is so easy to bend you can do it with your fingers.




I curved the top to form a hanger.




Wahlah, a tinsel icicle!  (I decided that's a thing.)



I made several dozen, all shapes and sizes.



Then it was back to blue goop detail.

I bet these would look terrific in a pared-down-modern room, or with steampunk-themed holiday decor.   I rescued a whole lot more of the unwanted wire, and will be icicling like mad!



I think they will be going up all over my house - not just for Christmas, they feel nondenominational and wintry.  An interesting note: my husband, who usually rolls his eyes at my repurposed stuff, really liked the chandelier with its industrial icicles.  Maybe it's a guycraft!

Hope you liked my construction site story.  (Anyone know how to get the blue off my hands?)



 See ya!

10 comments:

  1. Wow, This seems really hard job! You did great effort dear Mich. Many questions in my mind now. But I am glad you did it well. Thanks God :)

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  2. Mich you can really make art out of anything :)

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  3. Only you can make icicles look right at home on a cactus. Brilliant!

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  4. Love these!!! I think they can be made with bought wire, too. :) They came out great. I'm always looking for things to put on my chandelier. Best wishes for Christmas. Linda @Crafts a la mode

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    1. Hi, Linda! I agree, it's so fun to do unconventional chandelier decor - even if it sounds weird, it will probably look awesome up there. Thanks so much for the sweet comment!

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  5. Very cool decorated enmasse like that. I have a lot of wire left over from esplanade trees.

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    1. Thanks, Brianna! I think your extra garden wire would be perfect for this project, hope you make some. I am eyeing everything in my yard all of a sudden - especially the wires from a defunct electric fence system. Nothing is safe...

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  6. Your "tinsel" is pet safe too! Great look with loads of them!

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  7. Thanks, Pearl my dear! I am scaring my husband by threatening to cut up all the leftover wire (which he wants to save for a rainy day) for more curlicues. That is a hazard of living with me.

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  8. Hi there
    Just stopped by to let you know that I featured this on my Round Tuit post this week!
    A Round Tuit 288
    Thanks again for linking up! Hope you have a great week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success

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