A completely useless thing at first glance - a burnt-out incandescent lamp can be turned into an exclusive work that reflects the creative position of the author.
Unrealized creative ideas can be brought to life by making original crafts from burnt out light bulbs with your own hands. By involving children in this activity, you not only instill in them work skills, but also make the family even more friendly and united.
The significance of the holiday increases significantly when children take part in its preparation. Crafts from old light bulbs made by children with their own hands contribute to the development of their creative abilities and teamwork skills.
For a child, a master class with parents on making crafts from light bulbs with their own hands is joint creativity, not hard and boring work, but a fun game and fun with their closest people.
A photo of children against the backdrop of hand-made light bulbs for a significant event will decorate a family album and allow you to preserve memories of this holiday for a long time.
Warning
When working with glass, you should strictly observe safety precautions: work only with gloves and carefully remove the fragments after finishing work.
Children who are too young should not be allowed to work with glass products and light bulb crafts.
Preparing lamps for use
For some DIY light bulb crafts, you will need to first remove the base from the incandescent lamp, for example, if you plan to make an original bulb for plants.
In some cases, it is also necessary to melt the bottom of the glass flask to give it the desired shape or to make an additional hole in the product.
Instructions on how to prepare consumables for independent work:
- Using pliers, disconnect the contact at the top of the base.
- For further steps, you will need to wear thick gloves to reduce the risk of injury.
- The glass contour around the insulator is carefully broken. Next, using tweezers, remove all the filling from the lamp (incandescent filaments, wiring).
To melt the material, you must use a gas burner. The flame is directed precisely to the selected area, and as the glass heats up, the surface is given the proper shape with a skewer or metal spatula.
If you need to make an additional hole, use a spatula to slightly push the melted edges of the material apart.
Miniature light bulb vase
For work you will need: a screwdriver, pliers or a pocket knife. Using these tools, it is necessary to remove all parts located inside the flask. When doing this, proceed with caution, otherwise the product may be damaged.
The lamp with the internal elements removed is a ready-to-use vase. Such vases can be hung on a wire or a stand can be made for them. Plants that do not need watering, moss, or succulents are placed inside.
The material for the stand can be cork or any other material suitable for fixing the product.
Toy with a surprise inside
Beautiful toys in the form of a “magic ball” are often brought back from long trips. Probably every child or adult has observed how beautifully shiny flakes of artificial snow fall when turning such a souvenir.
You can make an interesting craft with your own hands from an ordinary incandescent lamp. For creative work you will need a transparent lamp, any cork (rubber or metal foil), large glitter for decoration, your favorite toy, a twig, water and glycerin.
Instructions on how to make a craft from old light bulbs:
- Using tweezers, the filaments and wiring are removed, but the base itself is left behind.
- A hole must be made in the center of the prepared cork.
- A strong wire is threaded into the hole, one end of which is fixed on the inside. At the end of the work, the second end of the metal wire is wrapped around the neck of the lamp.
- Any toy you like is placed inside the glass flask (it can be twisted from wire).
- The future toy is filled with a mixture of water and glycerin (there should be 2 times more water), and then large glitter is added to the resulting mixture.
A plug is installed in the metal base, and the remaining end of the wire is wrapped around the neck (neck) of the lamp. To make the toy airtight, the wire is fixed with glue.
Manufacturing stages
You need to fold 5 light bulbs so that they form a pentagon or other shape.
Mark the contact points with a felt-tip pen, and then apply glue to the marked places and glue the lamps together. Glue can be replaced with adhesive tape. Place a working lamp inside the resulting figure.
The easiest way to make a lamp
Around the burning lamp, hang several burnt ones on a thin chain, cord, fishing line or wire.
Toys and decorations for the New Year tree
The shape of incandescent lamps serves as an incentive to create Christmas tree decorations: heroes from fairy tales, penguins, various animals, snowmen and others. Lamps are painted with paints, covered with fabric or paper using decoupage technique.
Hats, mittens and scarves can be knitted or cut from a variety of fabrics or felt. Having awakened your imagination, you can surprise not only children with such crafts, but also all adults present at the New Year's party.
Crafts from LED light bulbs
Today, not all apartment owners use standard incandescent lamps.
- LED light bulbs can also be useful for creating original crafts.
- For example, you can make a bright lamp from a tall wine glass and 3-4 stems of different colors.
- Painting on glass will give your future craft a unique design.
In the photo of such a stylish craft made from light bulbs you can see how beautifully the multi-colored diode lights shimmer.
Decorative decorations
Using your creative imagination, fill the clear lamp bulb with soil, moss, small rocks, shells or twigs.
Such crafts are hung or mounted on a support, which is most easily made from thick copper wire. The stand also uses sticky silicone holders, sold in many stores.
Christmas decorations
The New Year tree can be perfectly decorated with handmade crafts made from light bulbs.
The lamps have different shapes, so you can make different toys from them: cones, icicles, images of animals and insects, and many other decorations for the New Year.
Of course, to do this you will need certain materials and tools, such as:
- energy-saving or standard light bulbs, almond-shaped;
- glue, good quality;
- glitter, different colors;
- suitable container.
New Year's crafts made from light bulbs are a wonderful and easy way to save on Christmas tree decorations. The process itself is quite simple, even children can handle it:
- pour multi-colored sparkles into bulk containers, it is advisable to choose brighter colors, but taking into account the overall decoration of the tree;
- Next, the glass bulb of the lamp must be coated with glue;
- Having dipped the light bulb in glitter, carefully cover it with decorations;
- let dry;
- After drying, tie a ribbon to the cartridge in order to hang it on the Christmas tree.
The toy is ready!
Snowman
It is possible to create crafts from old light bulbs in the form of some characters, for example a snowman.
To work on a snowman you will need:
- red material for the cap, mittens and scarf;
- a light bulb with a frosted glass part (you can also coat the transparent bulb with paint);
- acrylic paints;
- polymer clay or plasticine.
Next you need:
- form a triangle from the fabric with slightly loose edges to create a pompom;
- roll up the cap and glue it to the metal base
- light bulbs;
- mold a carrot from plastic material, which will serve as a nose, also mold hands in the form of twigs and circles - legs;
- Glue all parts to the snowman using glue;
- paint eyes and mouth;
- use beads as buttons (they can also be molded from plasticine or painted with paint).
Penguin
In a similar way, you can make an adorable little penguin out of a light bulb. The only thing is that the top part needs to be made in the form of a hat. The brim of the headdress can be cut out of cardboard and put on the base. Then paint the light bulb in the colors characteristic of penguins.
Children can make such Christmas decorations, but they definitely need supervision.
Piggy
Another character that is easy to make from a light bulb is a pig. It’s easier to create a pig using papier-mâché:
- first you need to prepare a paste from PVA glue and pieces of toilet paper;
- then lubricate the entire light bulb with the resulting mixture of species;
- let dry;
- then you need to prime the entire product with white paint;
- paint the dried craft pink;
- attach a tail, ears, hooves, snout and eyes to the pig (everything can be molded from plasticine);
- Dry it properly and the toy is ready!
In order to place the pig on the Christmas tree, you need to glue a loop to its back.
In addition to New Year's decorations, light bulbs can be used to create details for decorating your home space.
Oil candle
Remove all the parts through the hole drilled in the base, insert a cotton wick and fill the flask with oil.
Making a candle
Drill a hole in the base, get rid of the internal elements of the lamp, insert a cotton wick and fill the flask with melted paraffin. Then break the flask and clean the candle from fragments.
Various original crafts:
- Miniature plant in a lamp;
- In the same vase are plants that require little water (succulents, for example, cacti) or do not require watering at all (aerophytes);
- Various small objects in the flask, from gravel to coins. This easily accessible and stylish decor makes a big impression;
- Gifts in a light bulb: money, congratulations, messages, etc.;
- Spices, salt, miniature cookies in former light bulbs;
- Ladybugs from light bulbs in the garden;
- A miniature kerosene lamp made from a burnt-out lamp.
Benefits from inoperative LED lamps
DIY crafts from LED light bulbs:
- The LED lamp is wrapped in threads, possibly multi-colored, symbolizing eco-style;
- Non-working lamps painted in different colors can serve as decor together with working lamps;
- Floating decorations made from painted lamps in the nursery.
Joy is brought not only by the results, but also by the creative process itself. Get satisfaction and inspiration, create yourself and give the joy of creation to your children.
Decorative flask with plants
The most common use for incandescent lamps after the end of their service is the manufacture of decorative souvenirs for the interior.
Instructions on how to make a light bulb craft:
- Using a well-known method, the metal base and filaments are removed. You can make a small hole at the bottom of the lamp.
- A layer of decorative stones, moss, and shells is placed inside.
- You can place artificial flowers on the surface of the rocky layer, which do not require constant care.
Instead of artificial flowers, such souvenirs can also contain living plants, however, not all crops are able to grow and develop in limited spaces.
For this reason, you should approach the choice of plants for planting in detail.
