Things to do with Solar Lights in the backyard. Part 1.

I have a lot of solar lights in the back yard.




There are these small post kind that go in the ground:

They can be found for as little as dollar, but they get kicked around, and dirty.

It seems like they only last about a year.



I also have about 10 solar light strings.

At first I had them wrapped around the base of this big tree.

This was OK.

At night, it made enough light to see nearby.



Last year, I hung them high in the tree so that they dangled like Spanish moss.

This was cool, especially in the wind, but it didn't throw much light on the back yard.


Putting them up was fun.

In January I took them down. That was more fun. Not something I want to repeat.



This year, I wanted to do something different.



I looked up some ideas on the internet.

The coolest idea I found, was using a thrift store chandelier, and using the post-type solar lights in place of candles!

I can't wait to do this.

I'm still looking for a cheap chandelier at a thrift store!




Another idea from the internet involved sticking two hanging plant baskets together.

I have a bunch of these baskets around the garden. They also cost $1.

I glued a string of lights to the basket.

The gluing was messy.

Also I don't think I'll be able to remove the string without messing up the lights.

Not sure if I want to do more of these.




In San Diego I ate at a Tibetan restaurant.

http://www.tasteofthehimalayassandiego.com/

The ceiling was decorated with mismatched paper lanterns.

I got an idea, to stuff the string lights into paper lanterns.

Paper lanterns are also cheap.

This month, I picked up some paper lanterns at the Dollar Tree and the 99c store.

(These two assembled ones are from Dollar Tree.)

They come with a battery powered LED, which is nice for indoor use, but it would be hard to flip a switch if they are way up in the tree.



Of course I also went to Daiso, where they had a much nicer variety.

These larger ones are from Daiso.

The yellow one in the back is from a 99c store. They only had yellow.


Daiso also had plain white lanterns in many sizes.
You could paint on a white paper lantern...
Or use all white lanterns. That would be awesome for a wedding.


However, I was going for an eclectic look, like that restaurant.



Next, I sprayed them with a varnish, hopefully to keep them from falling apart in the rain.

They had to dry overnight.