Kitchen War... White Lightning in a Mason Jar

For the past 15 months, I've been staring at this outlet box cover next to the cabinets...

...and this covered over light fixture over the sink.

 Wondering if at one time there was a light switch controlling a light over the sink.  I figured it was time to check.  First thing was to check to see if the wire behind the covers were live.

The red light means the wire is live. 

I wired up a new light switch and then checked the light fixture and found that when the light switch was on, the wire was live and when the switch was off, the wire was dead.  I had a place for another light in the kitchen.

While the power was off, I also replaced the other fixture. 

(I got a fixture with an outlet, Ken Watts, so we could have another one and get rid of the "octopus.")

I connected a simple pendant light that I had picked up from Home Depot a few days earlier.

I had originally picked this up with the intent of letting Robyn pick out the globe she wanted at a later date.  I wanted the fixture on hand for when I had time to fool with this outlet to see if I could get it to work.

But over the last few months, we'd seen a lot of "Mason Jar" chandeliers.  This things were ranging anywhere from $50 to $300 online which I thought was a bit pricey for something someone just through together without any real knowledge of electricity.  Yesterday, I saw one on Instructables where people commenting on it had some real concerns about the safety of the wiring.

However, the instructable did give me an idea.  Why couldn't I make a "Mason Jar" pendant light?  I had a UL listed light fixture, a Mason Jar, ring and lid.

First thing I did was trace the light socket on the lid.

I drilled four hole around the out edge and one in the center so I had a place to start with my tin snips.  (The lid is from some Mississippi sweet lime pickles with hot peppers that my sister Tammy made me.)

And of course, I couldn't find my tin snips and I ended up using my wire cutters to cut out the center of the lid.

It looks a little rough but I smoothed down the edges by squeezing the burrs with a pair of pliers to press them flat. 

Next, I took the ring and the lid and attached them to the pendant using the ring that came with the pendant.

Screwed in a bulb and then the jar onto the lid...

Over to the light switch to flip it on...

...and for the price of a $15 pendant light, an old jar, and a used ring and lid, we had "white lightning" in a mason jar. 

Later, I'll replace the CFL bulb with a cooler (temperature-wise) LED bulb.  They were all too expensive at Target when we ran in there to pick up some other items.