CasaSugar

Nice and New: Mason Jar Lights

CasaSugar — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:00:00 -0800

Oh how I love me some mason jars. Among preserving jams, pickling tomatoes, shedding garden light, and showcasing healthy blossoms, the time-tested glass container has one more job to add to its already impressive résumé.

The crafty folks at Pigeon Toe Ceramics have a different take on the old classic. Familiar with their ceramic ways, the artists cast a large mason jar in porcelain and turned it into this Mason Jar Pendant Light ($108). Allowing the light to escape easily, they left the bottom open and kept it unglazed for a clean, raw look. Lucky for my wallet, I don't have a place for the light fixture in my kitchen but I'd love to see these jammin' jars hanging over a funky breakfast bar, perhaps with a vintage Coca-Cola sign hanging in the background.

Casa Quickie: Mason Jar Blossom Vases

CasaSugar — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:00:10 -0700

When your garden is in full bloom, nature will do the work when it comes to outdoor décor. But the rest of the year, you can get by with a little help from your local flower shop. The tree in your backyard may not be dripping in blossoms, but thanks to a trick from interior stylist Paul Hopper, you can still transform it into a floral fantasyland. Wrap some wire under the lip of a mason jar, twisting it to itself. Then, with the same piece of wire, create a handle, and fasten it back to the wire under the lip of the jar. Fill the jar a quarter of the way with water. Snip the stem off of a big blossom (try a peony or gardenia) from a flower shop and set it floating inside the jar. Make several more, and then hang them from your tree. Suddenly your garden is in full bloom!

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DIY: Recycled Glass Chandelier

CasaSugar — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:00:19 -0800

This holiday season, many of us may be throwing dinner parties, and expecting more guests than usual on a typical Saturday night. Maybe we'll pull spare seating out of the basement, or rent chairs, fold-out tablecloths, and white linens for the evening, but the last time I checked party rental shops didn't rent light fixtures. So, the next best thing is to fashion one of our own. With a few recycled materials and some tea lights, you can make a gorgeous, energy-efficient, glass chandelier that you may just end up hanging year-round. Make one to hang about each table, and your guests will be well-lit. Just add good food, wine, and conversation! To learn the steps, read more.

Supplies:

10-12 spare glass jars (mason jars, baby food, jam)
Circular gridded cooling rack
Thick and thin gauge wire
Beaded chain and locking links
1 large S hook
10-12 small S hooks
Wire cutters
Sand or small pebbles
10-12 tea lights

Here's how, from Ecologue:

Wash all your recycled materials.
Turn over your cooling rack, and at its center cross two lengths of the thick wire, looping their ends through the feet on the rack and twisting them to secure them.
Attach the large S hook by twisting the wire at the point where the two wires cross (at the center).
Under the lip of your jar lids, wrap the thinner wire around the tops three or four times, and tuck the ends underneath the wire to secure it.
Cut various lengths of beaded chain using wire cutters at twice the length you want them to hang from the cooling rack. You may consider a random arrangement or some sort of pattern for hanging.
Loop a piece of beaded chain through the thin wire on one jar, and then lock its ends together with the links. Do this with all the jars.
Fill the base of the jar with sand or pebbles, and then place a tea light on top.
Hang the cooling rack above your dinner table, or wherever you'd like it to be.
Then, hook your candle-filled jars with the small S hooks onto the cooling rack.
Use a long lighter to light them right before guests arrive, and fini!

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DIY: Mason Jar Garden Lights

CasaSugar — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:00:52 -0700

Considering the prices of garden lights these days, I've been looking for a low-cost alternative. Lucky me, I found a DIY for temporary garden lights you can make from only LEDs, lithium coin cells, mason jars, and a little bit of tape. The lights will be temporary, until the battery runs out, but you can always refresh your battery supply just for about 30 cents each.
Supplies:

One ultrabright LED with a diffused lens per light
One CR2032 lithium coin cell per light
One mason jar per light
Tape, masking is fine

To learn the steps, read more.

Connect an LED directly across the terminals of the lithium coin cell, so the long lead goes to the positive (+) side of the battery.
Wrap it once with tape so the LED stays touching the battery cell.
Half-twist the LED 90 degrees from the battery cell so that it can bend that way and the two leads of the LED don't touch each other.
Tape the light to the inside of your mason jar lid.
Screw the lid on. Fini!

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