How To: Make a DIY Geometric Brass Pendant Light

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This easy, gorgeous DIY pendant light echoes the projects in our Make It! Hardware Store Decor eBook, so we’re excited to share it with you, and hope you’ll also check out the eBook!

Ok, on to the DIY: 

Materials

• Brass tubing (we used this seamless 1/4″ tubing)
• Wire string to attach your tubes together
• Nylon-wrapped lamp cording – 2 ft. (we chose this Houndstooth pattern)
• Lamp socket (we used a basic black one and attached it to the covered wire)
• Ceiling canopy (to cover your electrical opening)  

Here’s the step-by-step:

1. Run your string through three pipes at a time, forming a bow tie shape. This will serve as the base of your pendant.
   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   
2. Play around with different configurations until you find a 3D shape you like. You can go free form with this, or stick to something symmetrical like we did.
   To create a shape like the one we did, add two more pipes to both sides of your bow tie shape to close the shape.
3. Using a pipe cutter, cut one 12″ pipe in half.
   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   
4. Using two 12-inch pipes, and two 6-inch pipes, attach the piping to the corners of your base. Make sure the 12-inch pipes are opposite one another, and the 6-inch pipes are the same.
   
   

   

   
   
5. Cut four 1/4-inch pipes to attach between the tops of your remaining pipes. You’ll create a ‘collar’ of sorts, which will allow the lamp cord to pass through neatly.
   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   
6. Attach your Nylon-wrapped lamp cording to the socket according to the manufacturer’s instructions, and then thread the cord through the collar in your pendant. We did this using a copper metal fastener to hold the pendant in place on the wire.
   NOTE: Lamp cords are not meant to bear weight, so if you’ll be mounting this thing from the ceiling, please check local electrical codes and make sure your pendant is properly supported (i.e. with chain or wire to the ceiling).
   

   

   
   
7. Depending on where you live, building codes may require that an electrician wire your pendant up to the ceiling. If not, you can just install it like you would any other pendant lamp (if you don’t know how to do this, you probably want to check with a pro).

And don’t forget to check out Make It! Hardware Store Decor today!

Looking for more pendant and lighting tutorials?

• Make a Glorious Woven Pendant Shade with Embroidery Floss
• IKEA Lighting Hack: How to make a Pendant Light Out of a $6 IKEA Bowl