So, you know how you meet people and you are like “Um…hello, why are we the same person?”
This is EXACTLY what happened when I was reading Morgan’s submission. It was like seeing into my own creative mind. That is a scary thing my friends.
See Morgan loved this Anthro Amethyst Crystal lamp.
It is so pretty right? But unfortunately it was $500.
What is a girl to do?
How can you make this lamp yourself?
Um.
Obviously growing crystals on a thrifted lamp is the answer. (Doesnt this totally sound like a Mandilicious project!?)
I will let Morgan take it from here…
I did a little googling and found an awesome Martha Stewart tutorial for growing crystals using water, dye, and a spice called alum. Her tutorial was for easter eggs, but I thought I could totally multiply it by ten and get a crystallized lamp.
So, I found the coolest cut glass lamp at goodwill (it was destiny!)
I unscrewed the base, and covered it with the glue & alum and then soaked it in the dye/alum mixture…. for two days.
It came out VERY purple. And not a crystal in sight. I ended up letting it sit for 9 days (I thought maybe it would take longer?)
But no, now I have a purple, lumpy lamp. That, needless to say, looks nothing like the anthropologie version.
Ok its me again. Still laughing! Dont you love the thought process?! Seriously Morgan, I think we are sisters.
I need to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who submitted their DIY’s Gone Wrong. You guys seriously rock my world, and have totally made me feel like I am not alone in my failures.
So tomorrow is the day.
The day I share the worst DIY fail I have ever had.
You may think I am being dramatic. You may think I am exaggerating. You my friend, are dead wrong. It is horrifying with a capital WHAT THE H.
Stay tuned.
I grew crystals once with my son and they actually turned out nice looking but they are so fragile. This is so funny! Cool thought process for sure.
Can’t wait to see your fail Mandi.
haha love it! I totally would have thought that would work too. I’m loving all the posts this week 🙂
She’s braver than I would have been. How frustrating that it didn’t work – great thought process, though!
I’m still laughing about the ‘Be Mine’ candle holders, though! lol
this is awesome!!! i love her thinking of this. even if it didnt work
I suspect it was because she was trying to grow the crystals on glass. When I did this with my kids and with Cub Scouts, we used charcoal as the growth medium. I don’t know how Martha did it, but then, Martha hires people to take care of her DIY projects!
Ha! What a shame, that probably would have looked really cool. But I bought my kids the same set last year, and although we sorta got a few ‘crystals’ out of it, they immediately dissolved at the lightest touch. Basically a colorful crust of salt.
Hey y’all, resident geologist here. Before anyone tries a second attempt on this I’m sad to say that unless you have a pressure cooker equal to that of the interior of the earth you are not going to be able to replicate those crystals at home. The original lamp is made of amethyst quartz crystals which are a 7 on the rock hardness scale (diamond is 10) and the alum crystals are probably a 1. The good news though is that quartz is very common and fairly inexpensive as far as crystals/gems go. If you do a search on scientific supply sites (if you look other places they’ll be expensive because you know, people like Napoleon Dynamite want them for time travel and such) you can probably buy a bunch. Then all you would need to do is glue them to a lamp base. The mineral (crystal) is called quartz and comes in different colors – Clear, Rose=pink, smoky=grey, amethyst=purple etc. You might also find faux crystals made of plastic that have a similar look for less.
Gorgeous lamp though. Definitely worth trying to replicate!
Hi Alicia! So good to hear a professional’s opinion. I guess the alum only worked in the Martha Stewart post I read because she did it on egg shells. This was a much bigger scale. I haven’t thrown the lamp away yet so I might have to go order some amethyst and try gluing it on. Thanks for the input!
In my mind this was totally gonna work!!! What that crap??? Although I don’t think my thought process would have ever shifted to growing my own crystals!! That thought alone is awesome sauce!!!
Hi Mandi and everyone! This is Morgan from Charleston Crafted who this post is about! This was an absolute fail and I was so sad about that because I really wanted this to work! I’ve had some DIY fails in my day, but usually we can figure out a way to fix it and make it work in some way at the end. This one though was just a total fail. So glad it got everyone laughing though! That’s the best part!
I just love the fact that she even tried to make that lamp! +10 for the effort!
Impressive just attempting to make the lamp AND I totally get the thought process!! If in doubt leave for longer, that’s my motto!! Lol
LOVE hahaha
Right now, I’m laughing, feeling better about my failures, and TOTALLY looking forward to your epic fail tomorrow!
Morgan rocks! That totally made me giggle. Although reading I through it, I thought it was going to be an insane masterpiece 🙂 “A” for effort! Side note: Those Easter eggs are super cool
It was such a good idea! I dont want her to give up lol. I want her to figure it out and make me one :p
I wish I had a photo of the kitchen table that I ruined! too funny
LOL!!! This has been the best series. Ever.
HAHA – that idea is actually hilarious – #respect for Morgan’s crazy and beautiful mind. Now, THAT is an awesome lamp. It’s worth a few craft fails. C’mon, if we all put our mind to it, we can do it! If Martha can grow crystals so can we.
Oh my, that is a good effort though! I probably would of bought amethyst crystals in bulk and hot glued them on there! You could do that for under a $100!
As a long time crafter-who LOVES Martha- and would know that this would never work, I commend her ingenuity and thank her for the laugh. OMG That is a hot mess if I ever saw one. Remember, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is!
Try Borax Crystals!!!??? This is hilarious – I could probably fill a large construction dumpster with my various attempts to try something new, but I have a basement ….