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Like the last few of my posts, I’ve had many leftover wooden Venetian blinds collected from hard rubbish. I decided to try to make myself a wooden pendant from the Venetian slats.
To start, I looked at all off cut Timbers I had and decided to make the top and bottom ring plate with MDF ( I definitely would use Ply in the future or pine). I used a 120mm hole saw and cut 4 pieces. The MDF was 12mm
I then used a 100mm hole saw to cut 2 disks which I used 3mm ply.
Take 2 large disks and the smaller disk. Glue both sides of the small disk and place it in the centre of the large. The 2 larger disks will sandwich the smaller one.
This above picture shows the larger disks made from ply. I did scrap this as it wasn’t strong enough. The picture shows the gap you will have between the 3 circles. This gap will later be used in insert your wood to create the pendant.
Place a heavy weight in the disks and Allow the glue to dry overnight.
While to glue is drying, I sanded down my blinds, cut each strip at 450mm and then lengthwise into 3 equal parts (each strip was about 16mm width. I cut about 20 pieces but allow extra for breakage.
I soaked the timber for 1 hour in the bath in hot water. My son thought it made a great car ramp!
While the timber soaked, I made a jig that would allow me to bend the strips so they had to extra flex when putting the pendant together.
I used anything I had around and placed them in the holes I drilled. The wood strips were wiped down and carefully bent around the supports as below.
I allowed half to dry overnight and then the other half bent in the morning. Or 2 jigs could be made to dry all at once.
Once dried, I cut another hole in the centre of the disks to allow light at the bottom and top to insert the light suspension kit from Bunnings.
The Botton disk was cut with a 70mm hole saw bit and the top I made too big. The bottom suspension kit went right through. I correct this by adding a large washer at the inside of the pendant and required through the gap. So measure the fitting and definitely make a smaller hole for the top.
I inserted 4 strips in equal distance. Then attached them to the top disk.
Repeat this process until you have 18 strips inserted.
I added some extra nails between the plates for extra support. I sanded and painted and let there be light!!!
Amazing work @sandy_d! I shudder to think what a similar shade would cost to buy. I'd imagine they are a pretty penny. You've done an outstanding job, and I'm very impressed that you were able to bend the timber to suit. Excellent work. I've never been particularly successful at bending timber. Usually, it ends with a splintered blowout. Perhaps I'm just being too hasty, and I'll follow your guidelines next time.
Many thanks for sharing, and I look forward to your next project.
Mitchell
