water bottle chandelier

This was from my first art class in college.  I don't really remember what the assignment was, but I think we were supposed to make something look like something else.  Basically I used a lot of clear plastic waterbottles and tried to make it look like broken glass by using the glow of candlelight.  I collected clear water bottles, stripped them of their labels and then scattered them on top of small candles that had a wire dome over it so the bottles wouldn't burn.  When I first performed this in the classroom, the effect was exactly what I wanted.  The room was small and had white walls so that the flickering of the light and movement of the shadows really appeared like a chandelier that had just fallen.   In the video above, I couldn't capture what I wanted.  It is too static.

This is what it is like without the lights turned off.

The process.

First I collected water bottles in the dorm.

Then I got my floormates to help me tear off the labels and scrub at that sticky stuff that lingers on the bottle.  Surprisingly, I got a lot of volunteers.

Finally, nice and clean.

Then I crushed the bottles.  And then I remember that my original idea was to make a hanging chandelier, but it wasn't working out too well.  On the last day before the project was due, I stayed out because it was Halloween night.  I returned at 3am and I still didn't know what I was going to do.  In the early hours of the morning, somehow I came up with this idea.  It's funny how easily sometimes ideas come to you.  But then again, I know that it doesn't happen all the time.