I love Halloween! It's a great excuse to go over-the-top and get a little campy. This year I made a cool Steampunk Candelabra that you could easily make for yourself. It's easy to make, relatively inexpensive (if you're making only one), and you can use either re-purposed materials or reproduction materials and the outcome is still impressively spooky! Perfect for any Halloween decor!
Materials & Tools:
- 2 bike gears, cleaned (free)
- 1 candelabra (I purchased mine from Michaels for 24.99)
- 2 skeleton keys (mine are fake metal keys, also purchased from Michaels in the dollar section: 4.00)
- Chain (1 pkg., 2.99)
- 4 large swivel hooks (1 pkg. of 4, 1.99) *Be sure to purchase hooks that are: easy to open (like a partial split ring) and large enough to fit around your candelabra's arm with enough space leftover to dangle your skeleton key comfortably
- Ideology brand reproduction gears (2 pkgs., 4.99 ea.)
- Jump rings
- 4 candlesticks (1.00 ea.)
- Wire cutters
- Flat nosed pliers
Note on the materials: You can use actual gears & keys that your re-purpose, but for those looking for a cheaper version reproduction gears & keys are fine too.
Steps:
- Measure the amount of chain you need by taking a piece of string and configuring it to hang in between your candelabra's arms. Keep in mind how far down you'd like your chain to hang. Cut and then measure against a ruler. You may even want to bring the piece of string with you to the store to purchase your chain.
- Cut your chain pieces using your wire cutters. You want 4 total.
- Once you've cut your chain, decorate it with your gears. To fasten a gear to a chain link, use your flat nosed pliers. Open a jump ring, load the gear onto it, and then load the chain link onto the jump ring. Close your jump ring. Do the "shake test" to make sure your jump ring is firmly closed. Repeat for all chain pieces. (I put 6 gears on each chain piece.) Once you are finished, set your chain links aside.
- Next, attach your large swivel hooks onto your candelabra's arms.
- After all of your hooks are in place, load your skeleton keys onto your swivel hooks.
- Once your keys are in place, attach your decorated chain pieces to the swivel hook with a jump ring. You are connecting your chain to one hook as well as the hook across from it. Repeat for each chain piece.
- Next, place your bike gears onto your candelabra. Mine fit comfortably over the middle candelabra arm and pedestal. Place yours where you like.
- Last, affix your candlesticks in their holders.
