When we moved into our house there was an electric chandelier in our dining room.  It was an adequate enough fixture but incandescent chandeliers are terribly inefficient, six 25 watt bulbs actually put out a fraction of the amount of light as a single bulb of half the combined wattage, and while they do make candelabra base compact fluorescent bulbs, I find their light cold, harsh, and they are not very dim-able.

Besides, nothing beats real candle light for a romantic dinner at home.

Read on for details on converting an electric chandelier back to candles . . .

This is my cheap and easy version of the classic Phantasmechanics Flying Crank Ghost and it utilizes a carousel motor from a discarded microwave oven and some bits of scrap wood for the armature.

Most modern microwave ovens have a small 110 volt synchronous motor that rotates the carousel, these are often easily removed through an access panel in the bottom of the oven.  Be sure to grab the little knob that engages the platter, this you'll have to remove from the inside of the oven . . .

Click through for step-by-step instructions . . . 

This year's theme was The Wizard of Oz.  I hacked up a rear projection TV that I got off of Craigslist to be the Great and Powerful Oz.  The original intent was to use the then working TV to present the image from a camera.  Unfortunately, the moment I started tweaking the gain controls to get a bright and colorful image the high voltage supply popped!

No worries though as I was able to strip out the interior entirely and utilize a presentation projector I borrowed from work.

Click through for more pics and a video . . .