#4 Hogwarts Inspired Lighting

We love us some Harry Potter here in NerdVille.

One of my favorites, is the floating candles in the Great Hall.

So Awsome!!!

I want that!

 Last year I did the well known (to haunters) hot glue, PVC method.

And they looked amazing.

Still they are just heavy enough that I needed eye hooks, to hang them.

the bottom half wasn't painted yet in this pic

This year I wanted a lighter weight version.

One that could be hung simply with thumb tacks.

So of course first thing I think is Paper towel rolls, Right!

It's basically the same as the TP roll and PVC methods.

a few adjustments

The Paper towel rolls are taller so they want to fall over a bit

so I stuck a couple very little rocks in the bottom before I taped it up.

Also I noticed the ridges are much more visible on them.

So I used a little spackle and filled in all the cracks. 

I also did this on the bottom over the tape to smooth it out...

because when they are floating... the bottom will be the most seen part.

So it needs to look kind of smooth.

See the Archives for my 1st Tutorial again (#1 TP rolls of the undead) for more details.

After its primed painted and dried (I used an off white color)

Its time to add the string.

I used a sturdy black thread. If you use fishing line the sheen on it shows up in the candle light thus messing up the illusion. You can use any string you like or paint fishing line.

It just needs to be matte whatever you use.

I found I like black thread best. 

Measure your ceiling and the string 

PPT Roll is 11" long

My ceilings are 9' high or 108"

The lowest I want the bottoms to be is  80"

so that means the longest my length can be is  17"

But we are folding the string in half so I am doubling that so I am cutting  34" piece.

That sounds confusing... just look at the picture.

I want them to stagger in height, 

but as long as I know the longest I can go

so it's all good.

I tie both ends into knots just so I have something for the glue to hold on to better.

Hot glue one end of the string to one side.

Let it pile up a little so it's in there good and secure in a nice big fat drip.

 Hold it up right while it dries so it hangs right.

Then when that side is dry Glue the other end to the exact opposite the side same way.

Have a nice little loop now.

Touch up prime and paint the new glue when it dries.

I got a little on the string so I need to use a little black paint there...

 no big whoop, I'll do it later.

Now it's time to make these babies float!

Twist the top of the loop around your tack, make sure it hangs straight before you push it in.

see the little tac in the ceiling

And there you go.


Here is another little picture from last year.

Hard to see I know.



I'll get some better pictures this year and come back and post them promise.
 It really is cool and one of my favorite effects.