So, I set out to Pinterest to see if anyone before me had taken on this feat and to my surprise and total luck, someone had! And thank goodness, because figuring out the beading pattern would have taken forever, so extra high-fives to them for taking the time to do that!

So, first and foremost, you need to go to The House That Lars Built HERE to see the original tutorial on how to make this chandelier. Below is how I did it with the help of my husband and I have included little tricks I learned along the way to make things easier as well as the few things I needed to alter to make it work for me.

Materials

10 mm wooden beads  12 packages of 300

14 mm wooden beads 11 packages of 100

16 mm wooden beads 8 packages of 100

20 mm wooden beads 10 packages of 50

25 mm wooden beads 11 packages of 30

Sewing needle with large eye (so the twine can go through the hole)

Baker’s twine or cotton yarn in at least 400 feet

Scissors

Two 18″ quilting hoops

Two 23″ quilting hoops

Oscillating saw or small saw (to cut the embroidery hoops with)

Wood glue

Clamps (4-6 per hoop- you can always do one at a time, too.)

Two 1/4″ metal rods (I found these at Home Depot in the dowel section)

Black chain – I used about 18 inches, but take into account how much you will need.

If you want to add light:

Lighting Kit

Ceiling Plate Hook

Lightbulbs

Okay, let’s get to it!

Directions for Stringing beads:

String the beads with your needle according to the diagram The House that Lars Built has created, also pictured below.  Leave about 6″ of excess twine on each end so you can tie around the hoop.

Terms to know:

*One string of beads is called a Strand.

*Every U-shaped section of five strands (One in each size) is called a Swag.

Tips: 

*I found putting the beads in separate bowls to be the easiest way of containing the beads. I also put them in the order that I would be stringing them to make it easier to keep track of.

*I found I could save some time if I put 2-3 of the smaller beads on the needle at a time before pulling them down.

*For easy storing and transporting, I recommend using hangers to tie the strands on until you are ready to tie onto the hoops.

Pattern for the 23″ Hoop

Source

Pattern for 18″ Hoop:

*TIP- For my chandelier, I found 25 of the 10mm beads to be too many on the shortest strand, so I used 24. If I were to do it again, I would use 23 as this strand still turned out slightly long for me.

Source

Directions for Tying the Strands: 

1. Separate your quilting hoops so that you have one closed hoop that does not open, and one open hoop that is adjustable (and has the clamp on the outside.) So in total, you should have four hoops in each size once you take them apart. Set aside one adjustable 18″ hoop and one adjustable 23″ hoop  (the one with the clamp) as you will not need these. You will only be using two closed hoops and one open hoop for each size (18″ and 23″).
2. Put your hangers of strands of beads close to you in the order you will be using them as it will make this step go faster. (Look below to see where I hung mine.)

3.Tie the strands of beads to one of the closed 23″ hoops with double knots, (use the photo below for reference) and tie them one swag at a time. (Again, a swag is 5 strands of beads, one in each size.) Make sure the knots are sitting on the top edge of the hoop (so that once you glue the hoops together, they glue flush to each other.) Start tying the strands for the next Swag close to the middle of the U-shape of your previous swag to form a crossover pattern until you have gone all the way around the hoop using all of your 12 Swags.

4. Repeat this process on one of the closed 18″ hoops with the longer strands of beads. This hoop will have 10 Swags total.

Directions for Glueing the Hoops Together:

1. Take the tightening device off of the open, adjustable hoop. You should now be able to fit this open hoop around the outside of the beaded hoop (with a little gap since it will be slightly bigger). Essentially, you are sandwiching your hoop with the beads in the middle with the two other hoops in the same size.
2. Use wood glue to secure this open hoop to the outside of the beaded hoop.
3. Use a small saw (or some kind of electric cutting device like an oscillator) to cut the extra closed hoop. Place it inside the beaded hoop and mark where the hoop overlaps (which is how much you will cut off.) Remove that little piece of wood so that the two cut ends line up, and glue that hoop inside of the beaded hoop.
4. Once you have the open hoop glued to the outside, and the closed hoop glued to the inside, place clamps around it to hold tightly for drying. We let it dry overnight.
5. Once completely dry, cut off the excess twine.

TIP- We put a little more of the wood glue along the strings on top of the hoops to help secure the strings from falling through.

Directions for Installing the Rods

1. Place your rods across the hoops in the shape of an X and measure to make sure they line up evenly and mark the spots where you will need to drill. Drill 4 holes that go all the way through the inner hoop, but only drill about halfway through the outer hoop.
2. Cut the rods down to size (about 1/4″ shy of the diameter of the biggest hoop)
3. Once the holes are all drilled, put the rods through the smaller hoop and fit it tightly into the larger hoop. The rods will overlap each other and since they are so thin, they will bend slightly so that you are able to maneuver them how you would like to in order to get them in the holes. 

Directions for Hanging the Chandelier and Installing the Light 

First, my husband removed the current light fixture and discarded the glass portion of it while keeping the part with the light bulbs and wires. He then took the pendant lighting kit and cut off the bottom portion where the single bulb was and replaced it with our old lighting fixture which holds three bulbs (We wanted more light).  Next, we took 18 inches of black chain and connected one end to the center of the rods andthen threaded the black wire up the black chain toward the ceiling. We then connected the chandelier to the ceiling by using a Ceiling Switch Plate and hung the other end of the chain from the hook on the ceiling plate.

Because it wouldn’t hang perfectly straight, my husband used a black zip tie to cinch it up straight, which can’t be seen.

And with the light on:

And that is IT! I say that lightly, as truly this thing is a lot of work. BUT! I did complete it in about five days. I was so determined to bust this thing out and I did. Get yourself a Netflix show and whenever you can, string away. I saved about $800 by making this chandelier myself. The total cost of the Pottery Barn Chandelier is $956. 24. The total cost in making this one was under $200, and I was able to use a $100 gift card on the parts. So, I really paid about $100 for it.

And I am telling you, it was WORTH it! It’s been hung for about a two weeks now and I am still so obsessed with it. If you want to make this yourself and have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! I will do my best in helping you out.

A huge thank you to The House That Lars Built for the original tutorial. I wouldn’t have been able to do it nearly as easy without it!

Thanks for stopping by!

The post DIY Pottery Barn – Inspired Beaded Chandelier appeared first on Living with Lady.