Floating Christmas Tree

I posted a few pics of this tree on Facebook with promise of posting more, but I never did, and now the tree has been taken down and put away. Regardless I wanted to post them here as well and make a few comments so I don't forget the things I want to change for next year.

I would like to say this was an easy project, but it wasn't. There wasn't anything overly difficult to it, but it was very time consuming. Next year I will start it the last week of November instead of the first week of December.

I started with 2 baker's cooling racks. I overlapped them to make a true square (as close as I could) and wired them together. It made a 20"x20" square. Then I spray painted them white, to match the ceiling. On the rack I found the center point and tied a string to it so I could visualize the circumference of my rings. Due to the size of the grid in the racks I used I had to stagger my rings. I am not sure I can explain it properly so let me illustrate.

There are seven rings and center point. The rings stagger at being 1.25 and 1.75 inches apart. At this point I need to give you couple of sets of numbers.
(Rings numbered small to large)
First the ornaments:
Approximately 130 Total.
Center: 1
1st Ring: 7
2nd Ring: 11
3rd Ring: 15
4th Ring: 19
5th Ring: 23
6th Ring: 27
7th Ring: 31

Second the clear lines:
Center: one @ 18"
1st Ring: one @ 20" | one @ 22" |  two @ 24" | three @ 26"
2nd Ring: two @ 28" | two @ 30" |  three @ 32" | four @ 34"
3rd Ring: three @ 36" | three @ 38" |  four @ 40" | five @ 42"
4th Ring: four @ 44" | four @ 46" |  five @ 48" | six @ 50"
5th Ring: five @ 52" | five @ 54" |  six @ 56" | seven @ 58"
6th Ring: six @ 60" | six @ 62" |  seven @ 64" | eight @ 66"
7th Ring: seven @ 68" | seven @ 70" |  eight @ 72" | nine @ 74"

From this point on I need to give a little warning. You'll notice as you go through this that my numbers don't quite add up. If you are one of those people who like exact instructions you are talking to the wrong girl. This was a total trial and error experiment, and what came out was not exactly what I planned. My best advice is to just go with it. It'll be okay :)

Your probably wondering where I got those numbers from. The ornament tiering is based off some instructions I found online that I will link to at the end of this post. As for my line lengths that took a little simple math. I needed to decide how tall I wanted my tree to be and how far off the floor I wanted the tree to be. I have 8 foot ceilings, and I wanted the tree to be about 2 feet off the ground. That gave me 6 feet to work with, but I didn't want the top of the tree to touch the ceiling either. So I subtracted another foot making the tree itself roughly 5 feet tall and it will start about a foot below the ceiling.

So my longest lines needed to be roughly 72" long (6 feet), but I needed to add a couple of extra inches  for fastening. So I made my longest lines 74" and worked backwards in 2" increments (roughly the average height of my ornaments ). As for how many of each length, I again took my cue from the online instructions I found.

Now I started to attach the lines to rack. I fastened them with jewelry crimper tubes. This was so that the fasteners wouldn't detract from the "floating" feel. So I divided my circles into eight equal parts and attached my lines at those points, then filled in from there. Not Martha described it well. She said, "Think of it like a tiered cake." Here's a map to show you roughly where I attached my lines.

After the lines are attached to the rack I attached the rack to ceiling with screws and cable brackets. Now the fun begins. I started hanging ornaments on the lines. Do this just like you would any other Christmas tree: make sure stagger your variety and colors evenly. I attached these with crimper tubes as well, but if you can get enough of a crease in lines to hold without crimping I would suggest it, that way you can change and move your ornaments as needed. Then once you know they are set, go back and crimp down the tubes.

And Vwola! You have a floating Christmas Tree. This all started after I saw a miniature version of this on a Home Depot commercial (which for the life of me is the only thing I can't find online). This sent me looking for a tutorial online which I found at www.notmartha.org Specifically in the archives. I realize my instructions are really scattered. I would recommend highly going through her instructions if you plan to do this project.  As you go through them you will noticed that I made some changes and took some liberties.

There are few things I would differently the next time around.

1. I wouldn't use the racks. I would spend a little more money and come up with something a little more decorative. I am thinking I would use a picture frame and peg board to attach to the ceiling. 
2. I would straighten my strings before I attached them to the rack or the ornaments. Hang them with clips and weights from a curtain rod or something. It will make it much easier to judge length.
3. I would use ornament hooks instead of crimp tubes for the ornaments. This will add to the length a little and take away from the "floating" feel slightly, but it will make the so much easier to hang adjust.