Let's talk about cardboard Christmas houses and accessories

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PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2022 12:29 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:30 pm
Posts: 231
Hi everyone,

For some time I have been wanting a vintage electric star topper for our family Christmas tree. I found one in it's original box at an antique show last week. I was really happy to find the star, but afraid of the original wiring and bulbs used in the star. I have heard some horror stories about vintage electrics and the danger of fire and wanted nothing to do with it. I brought the star to a local hardware store to see about having it rewired. One issue was that the green sockets holding the bulbs were made of Bakelite, and the brass part of the socket where you would solder new wires could not be removed from the Bakelite without cutting the rim, removing the brass to resolder and then gluing the rim back on. (Thanks to Paul Race for detailed instructions on the process.) My hardware store guy was not willing to go through all that and although I was, I am not comfortable with soldering and wiring.

Another attempted solution was to buy a new strand of C7 ceramic bulbs and use them to light the star. The plastic green socket fit well into the star but the distance between sockets meant that there was too much wire to stuff into the center of the star, and also meant I had a long strand of unused bulbs that would hang down from the star.

I searched YouTube for a way to shorten the new strand of C7 bulbs, and ran into this fantastic video with instructions to make your own customized light strings. There are no special skills required, no need to splice wires, no electrical tape and best of all, no scary old wiring to burn your house down! The video is long but very informative, and incredibly easy to follow. I ordered the supplies and within about half an hour I had my vintage star lit up and looking great!!

Here's a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7AUzXNFkr4

And some pix of my star!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Barb


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2022 3:40 am 
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Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:32 pm
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Thank you for sharing this info and congratulations on your find.


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2022 9:31 am 
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Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2011 5:35 pm
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It's a beauty!! Nicely done!!


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2022 11:00 am 
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Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2011 6:46 pm
Posts: 2249
Barb…

Two words…”Well done”…and I know you feel much better regarding the electrical safety issue…

thanks for the link to video…gives me a few ideas to explore about village lighting…too late for this year…maybe next year…easy to hide white sockets, white wire and white plug…spaced the way I want…

Howard…

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Note: To ask a question, sign up for our "Christmas Times" newsletter, or learn how
to apply for membership to this forum, please visit our Contact page.


Note: All content on this forum is Copyright (c) 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 by Paul D. Race
and by the posters who have contributed specific content. All material is for your personal use only. No content
or plans may be republished or sold, nor may any plans be used to make products to sell without prior written
permission from Paul D. Race and the individual who contributed the content or plan in question.
For permissions or for questions about this policy, please contact us using our Contact page.



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