Make Sun Catchers and Pull Chains with Reed Diffuser & Glass Bottle Corks

Last year during the holidays, several family members bought me some pretty reed diffuser kits (that come with scented oil in a pretty bottle with a round-topped plug and sticks).  I finally used up my oils and I was left with some cute little bottles with pretty corks that don't seem to fit back in the bottles very well.  I decided to store my incense sticks in the bottles below, and I let the plugs sit there for a while before I thought of a great extension to to my most previous blog on making customized pull chains.  Continue reading to learn how I went about with this simple trick.

first, I took the rounded plug and wrapped  jewelry wire along the thread (the winding wedges) of the plug, leaving a long enough train of wire at the end (that I would later add beads to).  Be sure you begin at the base or neck of the glass ball and secure the wire by making extra twists, ties or a knot before winding it around the rest of the plug. You may need needle nose pliers for this.  Once it is twisted to the bottom, secure the wire again to keep it from coming off of the thread.  Pick out a large jewelry bead with a big enough hole that will fit over some or most of the plastic plug.  Slide the wire through the bead hole and push the bead over the plug as much as possible.  Now, add beads, leaving extra wire at the end.  Now you can either make a loop at the end of the wire and hang it in front of a window to create a sun catcher, or detatch a pull chain from your fan and wrap the excess wire around the remaining chain.  Pull chains typically have a connector where you can detach it, like the image below.  Be sure to twist tightly around and up the remaining beaded chain.  Make sure you test the strength of it first, so that the beads don't go spilling everywhere when you pull it!  

Make Your Own Personalized Pull Chains for Your Ceiling Fans & Lights

One day, I went to turn the ceiling fan on in my living room and snap!  The pull chain busted.  Luckily, there was still some chain left that was attached to the fan which gave me the idea to construct my own personal pull chain.  This particular chain in the photo was originally a sun catcher charm made by a friend who gave it to me as a gift.  So I thought, why not not attach it to the chain?  I twisted some jewelry wire around the hook where it hung and then tightly twisted the extra wire up and around the individual beads that were left in the pull chain.  It was a simple fix, and needless to say, much more fashionable than the original pull chain.  It's little details like this that people notice and appreciate.

If your pull chain isn't broken, you can usually detach the long end of the chain from the chain connector (See image below), which leaves you with a little chain that gives just enough room to wire on something pretty.  Some other ideas might include broken necklaces, or durable strings to thread beads on (such as fishing wire, jewelry wire, etc).  Just make sure whatever you choose is going to hold together when you give a good tug on it.