After scouring the internet and big box stores for some cute kitchen pendants, I was left disappointed. I wanted something unique and that had an industrial farmhouse look. That is when I stumbled across these planters at the Frisco Mercantile for only $15 each!! I Immediately knew I needed to figure out how to turn these planters into pendants! After a little research and a few YouTube videos, I was ready to get started!
This is what they looked like right side up as a planter.
I started with a basic pendant light kit from Lowes. (only $15!) I then measured the base of the light kit (where the white part is) and found that it was 1" wide. So now I knew that the hole I was going to drill into the glass needed to be at least 1".
The next step was to find a 1" diamond glass drill bit. I was shocked to find that these bits were SO expensive in hardware stores! The 1" bit (30mm) was almost $40! So of course I started searching the web for a better deal. Amazon had them for $4!!!!! Yes, FOUR DOLLARS! SOLD!
You will want to work outside when drilling into the glass because it gets a little messy. I took the glass out of the planter and turned it upside down onto a towel.
To begin, you want to hold your bit onto the glass at an angle to make a small groove. Once you've made that groove for the bit to sit in, you will then start pouring small amounts of water over the top of the glass to keep it from getting too hot. This is a very important step because if the glass gets too hot, it will crack. I just kept a plastic cup of water next to me to pour over the glass every 30 sec or so. As you drill into the glass, you keep the bit at an angle and slowly start to level it with the glass. This is where you need a lot of patience. It takes TIME! You work slow and steady until the bit breaks through the glass. Overall it took about 10 minutes to break through.
This is what the glass looks like once you've broken through!
The next step was to cut the top off of the metal part of the planter.
I got my hubby to do this for me with his angle grinder.
From there it was just as easy as sliding the glass and metal over the pendant kit and attaching the washer to hold it all in place!
Add a light bulb and you're done!
I am so obsessed with my one of a kind pendants! They are exactly what I had been searching for and now I can be proud to say that I made them myself!
More pictures of the new house to come!!!
