There were no directions on how to spread the the elements to make it look like the light in the picture. So I took off the two wrapping tapes at the base; I think this was a mistake. I called Wayfair, and they told me they'd look into it; still no response. I'm going to try to tape the base back together and see if I can just bend them out as in the picture. Now, it's in a vase and looks nice when plugged in, but it's still not like I thought it would be.