Cheap Candy Cane How-TO - Lights, Lights, Lights! Read Only. No more posting. - PlanetChristmas! Forums. Read Only. We've moved to http://talk.planetchristmas.com - The Forums of PlanetChristmas have moved to http://talk.PlanetChristmas.com
Hey guys,
This has probably been done, maybe useful to some newbies.
I got a bunch of the cheap plastic candy canes from Walmart, they are much like Hula Hoops. I got 10 @ 23ct each. Their regular is 94cts.
Ok for this project I got a simple peice of rope light, a 36" section which is the spacing on my ropelight... Because the canse are about 6 or 7 inches too long I had to cut it down that much.
After this I applied a small dab of olive oil to the end that is sliding in and first slid it in from the short end of the cane to get some on that difficult bend. Then I took it out and slip it up through the other end. After this you can attach an end to the rope light, most ends dont fit through so you have to do this last.
Also some ropelight might slide in easier, so try it before using oil. After this it is done! Now you guys can figure out how to stand it up!
Zac, your ingenuity never ceases to amaze me. I am so glad you are here. Although I might have gone the WD-40 route, I never considered shoving rope light into one of these. They look awesome, so I hope you don’t mind if I borrow your idea.
{sitting back wondering where Zac gets all his time} Looks good Zac. As for the lube, you should be able to use almost anything that will not fade the tube color.
Actually, I did that this year. Mike Ziemkowski told me he had used rope lights inserted into his candy canes in his 2004 display (http://www.lightsondisplay.com). The candy canes were part of a set of 4. Kinda hard to animate 'em indivudially, and instead of messing with cutting 'em apart, he just shoved rope light in 'em, placed black electrical tape over the rear part that stuck out (36 inch rope light, 33 inch candy cane).
I didn't use olive oil, however. I just started the rope light going in, and swung the candy cane back and forth (while holding the bottom) and it went in nice, neat, easy and simple.
However, the candy canes he (and this year, I) used were prelighted, unlike the non-lighted ones Zac used. So there is a difference. Just gutted 'em of the 4 into one lights and made 'em into individual pieces for animation.
looks great. Those mini light clips with the double stick foam for windows will stick to the cane and the clip part will fit on 1/4 in. rod. Two clips per cane is how I stand mine up. About 18 in. of rod of some type and the clips about 8 in. apart, stick rod into ground about six in.
Just want to point out to others that rope is a little expensive to run compared to mini's, and the boughten version of the canes usually have 20 clear mini's inside. would be pretty easy to string a set of 20 mini's inside a hollow cane.
The 'real' versions secure the lights at the far end (by the hook) with a zip tie threaded through a hole in the end of the cane.
Tim, are you talking about the candy canes from GE? i have those in my display and they don't hold the lights to well the hook has snapped and some canes look like there part out but the lights just slid down the cane. plus the cheap plastic stakes that they use snap like a toothpick in the cold. i hold mine up with rebar and cable ties BETTER THEN NEW!
crazy4holidays wrote: Tim, are you talking about the candy canes from GE? i have those in my display and they don't hold the lights to well the hook has snapped and some canes look like there part out but the lights just slid down the cane. plus the cheap plastic stakes that they use snap like a toothpick in the cold. i hold mine up with rebar and cable ties BETTER THEN NEW!
Actually I got mine 2nd hand so I'm not sure if they're GE or not. I had no problems with the lights sliding out except on one cane where the zip tie broke, and it was an easy fix. Mark Obermiller (who I bought the canes from) used PVC pipe instead of the cheap plastic stakes and that's what I use as well -- works great.
Although I might have gone the WD-40 route, I never considered shoving rope light into one of these. They look awesome, so I hope you don’t mind if I borrow your idea.
BETTER THEN NEW!