Found this awesome vintage chandelier frame in pretty bad shape, but I could see its beautiful potential in the details. Cleaned it, removed the old wiring, then sat with it until I felt the colors it would inhabit. Painted with liquid acrylics and then sealed it. Re-wired it for one larger bulb instead of 5 smaller ones. Added some wood housing and covered partially with mosaic tiles, then set to work searching out the right chandelier crystals. Took about 5 months, but was also working on 3 other projects at same time.

This is the first chandelier that I actually built from the ground up… I collected parts from about 6 different vintage chandeliers and put them all together as a “One of a Kind” vintage creation. The main body that holds all the pieces together is a wood base that I built and shaped and then covered in mosaic tiles to compliment the color scheme of the crystals I was intending to use.

One of my favorite elements of this chandelier has great sentimental value to me: My friend and neighbor, actress Cynthia Frost, passed away just over a year ago and I was given a lot of her costume jewelry. One necklace in particular was made from light beige crackle beads of several sizes and they really seemed to catch the light. I used these beads from that necklace in this chandelier because I liked the idea that a part of Cynthia would be shining down from above in more than one way.

I’ve always enjoyed this quote…