Are you into decorating your yard for the holidays? Outdoor Christmas lights are really expensive, but there's nothing from stopping you to make your own. Here are some simple steps to create your own giant sculptures for hanging in trees or attaching to the side of your house.
Begin by Building the SculptureTo get started, first come up with an idea of what you want to create, and get some chicken wire. We used 20 gauge for our project, and it was enough to hold its shape. I also strongly suggest having a pair of gloves when working with it as you may cut yourself in the process.
From a spool of chicken wire, cut off a segment that is the appropriate length for your project. We used a four foot wide roll, and cut off a piece that was ten feet long.
Step 2 - Form the chicken wire into a CylinderAfter cutting off a segment, create a cylinder shape by stretching out the wire. Then make cuts from the outside 18 inches in from the outside, then pull the pieces over one another, and use the loose pieces of wire to tie together. When just getting started, it should look like this.
Make four of these cuts around both sides of the cylinder, and fold the pieces together. After doing all eight cuts (four for each side) it will start to change shape, but still not be in a ball.
Now make another series of four cuts on each side of the cylinder, and once again fold in the edges. Now it should start to resemble a ball.
Remember, nobody is interested in seeing the ball, so don't stress out if it isn't perfectly round. The next step is fun, as it's time to add lights. For the size of ball that we created, we used three strands of 100 outdoor lights. Use twist ties to anchor the lights to the ball and wrap around the exterior multiple times.
Now plug it in to make sure that the strands all work.
Step 4 - Hang in a Tree and Enjoy!All done - ready for it to get dark and you should be able to see this from a block or two away.
Terren Peterson
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