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 I found this beautiful Spiderweb Candelabra at Spencer Gifts and just had to
have it. However, it was set up to use real candles not flicker lights. IMHO,
anyone with real flame on the inside of a haunt isn't looking at the big
picture, so the only thing I could do is retrofit it with electricity. Here is a
brief look at how I did it.
The first thing I did was drill a hole in the back of each cup that
was to hold the candles. I used a 5 /16" bit and kept the hole at the bottom
of each. Next I cut 6" sections of 1/2" PVC pipe that would slide
perfectly into the cups and cleaned all the writing off from the manufacturer
with lacquer thinner. At the top of each pipe I inserted a light bulb fitting
for the small base size bulb just below the top edge. The bases I used had
10" or so of pigtails coming off the bottom which made it easy to hot-glue
the fittings in place and then pull a section of black "zip cord"
which is a lightweight 18 AWG electrical wire, through the hole in the base of
each cup and wire-nut the ends to my pigtail ends. I simply then would push the
excess wire and nuts into the hollow space of each pvc pipe. Then I ran a
generous bead of hot glue around the bottom of each pipe and slid them into each
cup. Make sure each pipe is absolutely vertical. If these are crooked, even
slightly, you will really see it.
With the "candles" now in place, use the smallest black zip-ties you
can find to tie the zip cord to the back side of the wires that hold each candle
up. Each cord will meet behind the spider in center of the candelabra. There you
will mate each copper wire together and to a section of zip cord that will plug
into the wall and solder them all together to get the most compact joint
possible. Do the same to the silver ends. Once each leg is soldered, wrap
tightly with plenty of black electrical tape. The plug-in wire you will have
soldered to the group of wires should be at least 8' long to give you latitude
of placement later. Zip tie the plug wire down the back of the stand shaft to
the base.
Now for the finishing touches. Get your hot glue gun out and make sure you
have a box of glue sticks. Dress each candle with the hot glue in the most realistic wax-drippings you can make up. Remember, when making wax drippings,
more is better. Fill the wax trays and let the glue begin pouring off the sides.
As soon as the glue starts to pour over start to blow on the bead to get it to
stop traveling or all you will have is a strand of hair. Later, after these
photos were taken I went back and put literally about 4 times as much additional
"wax" on each candle to really accentuate the burned down candle
effect. Don't worry if some of the glue drips on the spiderweb of the
candelabra, since it does look like natural wax drippings. Once you are done
with the wax effect carefully string the fake webs over the entire prop, or
better yet shoot it with a web shooter. It looks really realistic.
The bulb shown here is a standard bulb, but those immediately came out and each
were fitted with small base flicker lights. You can find these at a large
hardware store like Home Depot for about $2 each. (wait till the day after H and
get them 1/2 off) Its a long term investment, as mine have lasted for 6 years
already and there hasn't been one casualty yet. It takes a while to complete
this job, but it doesn't take a lot of skill. If you can find the candelabra,
try this for this Halloween.
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