When you think of a chandelier, undoubtedly delicate crystals or intricate iron works come to mind. You can use pretty much anything to make a chandelier. If you have a collection or you want to continue a theme in your home, you can do it by building your own custom chandelier. Your chandelier can be elegant or perhaps you want to build a whimsical one for your child's room. With just a tiny bit of electrical know how, or help from someone who has it, you can create a custom chandelier that will perfectly suit your space.

Finding Things
As you think about making a chandelier from found objects, part of the fun is choosing the objects that you want to include in your lamp. You can make a chandelier out of virtually anything including plastic milk cartons, kitchen utensils, small pieces of metal artwork or even old hardware. You can choose items that are translucent, shiny or simply colorful. You can look for interesting shapes and materials to create your customer chandelier, and much of the fun of this project is finding just the right materials for it.

Baubles and Beads
Looking around your house will allow you to find all kinds of "stuff" that can be utilized in making a chandelier. If you have a box of old costume jewelry or any unstrung beads, they all make great embellishments for a custom chandelier. A trip through your kitchen can sometimes be helpful in helping you find elements for an unique chandeliers. Anything from plastic cutlery to contemporary metal wall hangings or artisan metal wall art are possibilities for delightful adornments. Or use old teacups in a Victorian inspired lighting fixture. You just need to use items that will not crack or melt from the heat that emanates the light bulbs; otherwise you can also place delicate pieces away from the bulbs on the fixture.

Bones and Vines
If you want to create a beautiful chandelier for a rustic space, consider using driftwood, a grapevine or even tree branches to create your light. For a rustic country ambience, you can also use antlers and animal bones. Again, you want to be aware of the heat that your light bulbs are emitting, and you want to make sure that your lamp is properly wired to be safe.

Vintage Toys
A whimsical addition to a child's bedroom could be a chandelier made of children's vintage toys. You can choose a single type of toy like a jack in the box, or you can simply mix and match the toys for a fun effect. You can start with an existing chandelier as a base and mount your toys on it, or you can build the entire chandelier using toy parts. As you are creating your chandelier, you may find that you will already have an idea for your next one.