A Gorgeous Faux Capiz Shell Pendant Light DIY

Capiz shells?  Nah.  It’s wax paper.  It really looks like the delicate little shells and is easier to work with.  The wax paper layered and fused together with an iron.  This DIY capiz shell pendant is a bit time consuming because you need to make the shells.  It will be worth it when you are finished.  Thanks to A Home in the Making for the idea.

Thank you for all the super sweet comments over the last couple days about my capiz shell pendant! It really is a lovely addition to our little eating nook.

As promised, today I’m back with an insanely detailed how-to for creating your own capiz shell pendant chandelier. This project is not hard, at all, but it is fairly time consuming. I learned a couple tricks along the way, so hopefully they’ll make your process go a bit faster!

Start by prepping your lampshade, which serves as the structure of the pendant. I bought a pretty nasty shade at Goodwill for $2.99. Take all the fabric off, and then add a third tier. This didn’t show up in any of the photos, but basically, you want to horizontally install a wire half way between the top and bottom. I simply wrapped my around each of the vertical strips to secure as I went around. Once that’s all put together, coat the entire frame in white spray paint. This might be being overly cautious, but the *capiz shells* are pretty see-through and I didn’t want the frame seen at all.

Next make your capiz shells. Friends, grab your favorite movies, turn on your favorite music and (I personally recommend) grab a huge glass of wine. This is where things get a little time consuming. To make your the circles, simply lay a sheet of parchment paper on your ironing board (or on a towel on any other flat surface), lay three sheets of wax paper, and then lay another sheet of parchment on top. Turn your iron to medium heat and simply iron the wax paper together. It doesn’t take long for the layers to melt and adhere to each other, but make sure you get the sides/corners really good. The trick here is that you can actually do more than one *set* of these at once. I was ironing three of these sets at once. The heat actually penetrates all the layers perfectly fine, and makes this part of the process go much, much quicker. Ironed, the sheets will look like the photo in the upper right. At first I was annoyed about any perfections the ironing caused, but then I realized these imperfections give the shells a lot of character. Love that!