Michael5000's Holiday Craft Project

So you put up your Christmas lights, and of course quite a few of them will be "burnt out," their filaments having shaken loose when you took them down, or in storage, or when you put them back up.

You replace them, and you end up with a couple pockets full of burned out bulbs.  Do you just add them to the relentless sea of Christmas lights overspilling our landfills?  Not anymore, for I have had a very clever idea (although I very much doubt I am one of the first million to have had it).

Take your dysfunctional bulbs and secure them in place.  I'm all fancy doing two at once in the illustration, because I have a good vise, but really you could just grip them firmly.  Also, I'm doing C9 bulbs here, but it works fine with C7s too.

Drive a hole through the threads of the bulb.  I'm using a drill with an old bit here, but you could probably drive your holes with an awl, or a ball-point pen for that matter.  Bulbs aren't exactly a durable good, and you'll find that the material the threads are made out of is not much more than a stiff foil.

Next, make loops out of eight inches or so of yarn, string, durable thread, wire, or whatever you've got handy.  I'm using fancy linen thread here, but that's a little extravagant.  Thread your line through the holes you made, then tie a firm double knot to complete the loop.

Voila, Christmas ornaments!

Hang 'em on a tree of some sort.

CHRISTMAS CHEER, BABY!!!


Estimated time requirement: ~10 minutes setup + 2 minutes/bulb.
Difficulty: Super-easy.
Kid-Friendliness: Well, we're puncturing glass objects here.  Not for toddlers, know what I'm sayin'?