Do you have a lot of plastic canisters lying around in your house? If you do, here is something that you can do to brighten up your home this holiday season!
Materials:
- clear canisters (depends on how many you want to use for your lights)
- Christmas lights (coloured or plain)
- fine-tip pen
- coloured paper
- film negatives
- cutter or X-Acto knife, scissors
Step 1:
Use your pen to mark an ‘x’ on the canister cover. Use that as a guide and put a slit on the ‘x’ following the marking that you made.
Step 2:
Cut out strips of coloured paper or film negatives that you could place inside the canister. Stretch your creativity! Place other items inside the canister, such as beads, glitters and other items that can improve the look of your Christmas lights.
Step 3:
Poke each light bulb through the cap of canister and snap the canister in place. Turn on your Christmas lights!
The steps are pretty simple, right? If you have other suggestions on creating Christmas ornaments and decorations, do not hesitate to check our requested posts and submit a tipster!
18 comments
welland
Very nice idea but also dangerous. Film is flammable and when heated by conduction (the bulb) it will ignite. Wrapping these round a dry tree is asking for trouble. I am a fire consultant, please be very wary if you are going to attempt this.
pzjo
@welland would it be ok to use just the coloured paper instead of the film negs?
gabysalas
@welland, do those tiny Christmas lights really get so hot?
welland
@pzjo coloured paper is better than film however it could still get hot enough to combust. @gabysalas yes they do, they glow white because they are that hot. A prolonged period of contact is enough to cause ignition http://www.youtube.c(…)ZLHhG65fLeY
gabysalas
@welland, didn't know or even think of that... What if the person colors the inside of the film canisters with permanent markers?
jeanmendoza
welland
@gabysalas I think that would be a much better sollution. Sorry I don't mean to rubbish the idea, I like it! I just wanted to warn against promoting something that is a very big risk. Its my job I just can't leave it alone!!
cc-in-paris
I loved this idea! @welland: ok, Mr fire consultant, what if we use the colorfull blinking Xmas lights instead. and no film? safe enough?
welland
@cc-in-paris No problem with that! You just need to try avoid contact of combustibles with a heat source (bulb)
shuttersentinel17
I liked this article the moment I read the title! I thought if someone is adventurous enough they could use E-6 processed slides around the inside of the canister instead.. Little images around it!
asharnanae
Surely if you used LED Lights, there would be no fire related problems? I mean, they don't get hot... at all. And I love the idea of making you own lanterns, slides would look particularly cool :)
neanderthalis
Creative idea, I just need to think of a safe way to recreate.
gabysalas
@welland, no problem, we don't want to suggest something that might endanger our readers...
itsdebraanne
slide film is so much better! 1. you're expressing your love for film and B. you're showing off the wonderful photos you've taken!
itsdebraanne
Merry CHRiSTmas!
minilidia
What a coincidence! This is my tipster http://www.lomograph(…)de-pelculas
marybee
@welland Really, instead of hanging them on trees, i want to decorate them in my room..would that be okay..but no i'm not going to use the film it i think.
marybee
@minilidia omgeee i love it. totally gonna try this one in my room too! simple but yet so beautiful! luckily you post the pic cos i don't understand the words. hehe