DIY: Valentine Light Bulb

Lucky for those of you who have procrastinated  yet to find a gift for your valentine, my husband and I celebrated V Day early this year, so I can show you a couple homemade gifts that are sure to be a hit and won't hurt your wallet.  :]  The first gift I made is featured in this post.  I was inspired, of course, but something similar I saw on pinterest!

Materials:

Red thin gauge wire (available at craft stores)

Light bulb (any standard incandescent bulb with a regular size base will do..no fluorescent or halogen bulbs)

Pliers

Screwdriver

Safety goggles/gloves

Scrap piece of wood or wood cube (craft stores usually sell wood for crafts and would have a small square or chunky piece that would work)

2 pins

Paper and pen (or type written message)

Wire cutters

Hammer and nail (optional- if you are using soft wood these are not necessary)

Hot glue gun

Directions:

 Prepare a surface on a work table for hollowing out the bulb. I watched this video as a tutorial if you would like another demonstration than the one I put here. 

First, grip the  point and give it a good twist. You will free the brass contact break one of the wires leading to the filament.

Once the contact has been pulled out, carefully crack the glass insulator. The chips from this are quite pervasive, they get into just about anything in the area and they are razor sharp. Use caution.

Use the screwdriver to break the fill tube. 

You can now shake the filament assembly out of the tube.

Now the bulb needs a good cleaning!  I just used a paper towel and wire hanger.

And now you have a clear, cleaned out bulb!

 Now, cut a ten inch piece of wire to make a heart “filament”. Fold the wire in half to create a sharp crease, then unfold.

 About an inch from the crease, take both loose wire ends and loop both wires around to create the heart halves. Then pull both wires back down, overlapping the center of the crease and extending beyond the heart shape. You may want to tweak the heart halves a little to get heart shape that you like. Your heart should be about 1/2″ wide so it will fit through the base of the bulb pretty easily.

Take your filaments to your bulb and hold them up to see how long the stems need to be to have the heart filaments positioned in roughly the center of the bulb.  If your wood is soft enough, you should be able to poke the wire filaments down into the top of the wood and they will stay in position. If you are using a firmer wood, use a hammer and nail to create a small guide hole, then remove the nail and push the wire down into the hole. you may want to secure these with glue as well.

Fit your glass bulb over the filaments and glue the bulb down to the wood at the base with hot glue.  Use the pins to attach your love note or message to the front of the piece of wood.

And that's it!  Not only will your valentine love this homemade gift, but you can be proud of making it!  I know I was. :]  And don't let the disassembling of the bulb intimidate you...if was pretty simple. 

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