DIY~ Glass Pendant Lights!

As I was changing the light bulb in my kitchen glass pendant lights, I realized I have never shared a blog post on how I made these hanging lights.  This post contains some affiliate links. Click here for my full disclosure policy.

We did a major kitchen remodel 6 years ago and I made these glass pendant lights using stained glass and a little imagination.  I wish I had a picture of my inspiration for these lights.  It was 6 years ago and I can’t find the source.  I fell in love with the source but refused to spend almost $1000 for the lights to go above my kitchen island.  Let’s just say that mine came close to the source design at the portion of the cost.

I come up with the creative ideas and Mr. DD. figures out how to engineer it for me.

I found the perfect glass pieces that I wanted to use and I also used some of the same pieces for  my stained glass cabinet doors.  You don’t have to know how to do stained glass to make these.  I cut the glass panels to the size I needed, they were straight cuts.  You could also ask the stained glass shop to cut the glass for you, I am sure they would do that service.

We used a 1/4 inch diamond drill bit to drill the holes.  The key to drilling holes into the glass is not allowing the glass and the bit to heat up, the heat is what cracks the glass.  My advice for drilling glass is to place the glass in the sink and run cold water over your glass and drill bit while you are drilling.  Make sure you have a flat surface under your glass or you could crack the glass from the uneven surface as well.

Parts needed to build a metal bracket to hold glass:

4 flat ceiling mount brackets (Usually found in the lighting area)

2- 2-inch lamp nipples

2 – 1 1/2 inch lamp nipples

4 small screws and nuts

2 lamp nipple caps

2 of the flat ceiling mount hardware pieces need to be bent on each end to make the bracket smaller and this is needed in order to attach the mounting plates together.  Use the small screws and nuts to attach the plates together.  Screw the longer 2-inch lamp nipples into the small end brackets and tighten to the lamp socket.  Do the same for the smaller lamp nipples.  Your bracket is now ready to add the glass pieces to the outside.

I found the pendant lighting base at Lowes.  Of course, the lamp base was not this color, it was white, and it was marked down to $12.  I guess white was a slow seller because they still sell the light base, just not in white.  I sprayed the light base using Hammered Antique Pewter spray paint.