Beadcharmer Designs: Let there be light!

My grandfather always said... "Lo que no se ve, no se vende!"... translated it literally means... "What cannot be seen, is not sold!" I am a firm believer in that saying. Which is why, I can't believe I didn't properly light my table at craft shows until this year. If you've ever been to a convention or gift show you know the lights I'm talking about. Usually they are high wattage halogen lamps that put out tremendous amounts of light as well as heat. They make everything look ever so lovely and make merchandise all that more irresistible. They are also pretty pricey, part of the reason I hadn't made the investment.

If you recall a few posts ago I told the story of "The Adventures of Sybil and Super-geek", well it was on that trip that I learned the secret to inexpensive lighting and all it took was a trip to the Casa Depot and the not so sneaky appropriation of some clamps from my hubby's toolbox!! This was all well within my budget!! I had less than $50.oo to spend and 1day to get this accomplished with the help of my hubby of course 'cause this Chica has a healthy respect for power tools!

You will need the following....

1. 2 1"x10' electrical conduit pipe

2. 4 1" set-screw couplers

3. 4 1" conduit hangers

4. 4 150watt Aluminum Incandescent Clamp Lights

5. 4 100watt (output) Daylight/Full Spectrum CFL bulbs

6. 4 4"x 4" C-clamps (raided these from hubby's tool box)

7. 8 bolts and wing nuts

8. 4 household extension cords (you probably have a few extra around the house too)

9. 1 power strip/surge protector (we had several so I appropriated one for my show kit)

10. 1 25' heavy duty extension cord

The first task you can complete in the hardware store. We had the 10ft conduit cut down to 5ft lengths so they would fit in the trunk of our compact car. If you get a super accommodating sales associate you might be able to get them to cut each pipe into 2.5ft lengths for you too. If not, make sure you have an appropriate saw for cutting pipes at home and while you are at it, make sure the drill is fully charged. Once you are home with all the goodies break out the drill and appropriate bits for drilling holes into the pipe and c-clamps. This will take a bit of muscle. So girls, if you have a handy hubby, or a helpful he-man around, now is the time to bat your eyelashes and get them involved. Drill two holes into each of the c-clamps. Then position the clamps onto the conduit and mark the pipes with a sharpie through the holes you just drilled. This will assure that each c-clamp's holes will line up to a corresponding pipe. You will need to drill straight through each pipe so that you can secure the clamp with the bolts and wing nuts. We assembled each of these as we went along, as to not end up with mismatched clamps and pipes.

You will also need to drill corresponding holes for the couplers and pipe assembly, match those up the same way you did the pipe and clamp fittings.

Now that you have the most difficult part of your Ghetto Lighting done you can begin to assemble your lamps for a test run. Fasten the c-clamp on to a table (preferably a wooden table), make sure that if you are using your dining room table or something similar, make sure to protect it from getting marred by the clamps. Also, threading the power cords through the c-clamps will keep them off the floor and your under table storage neat.

Once this is done, attach the conduit hangers to the tops of each of the second piece of pipe (see above). This will secure your lamp and keep it from swiveling. Before assembling the two sections of conduit, add the light bulb to your clip lamp and run the electrical cord through the conduit hanger in order to keep it clear of the lamp's reflector.