My Much Needed Lampshade Make Over

 

The Reza Floor Lamp I ordered from miniatures.com has been in my dollhouse for a while now, and I've always disliked the shade.  Why it’s named after my favorite person from Shahs of Sunset, I don’t know, but the shade is a cube with an unfinished wooden base, which just doesn't work for me or my project.  Seriously, when have you seen a lamp in real life with an unfinished wooden base?  Argh.  So, while I wait to buy square wooden blocks from the craft store for the exterior of the building (more on that in the future), I finally got around to making a new one.  

Before, bleh.  This is a stock photo so you can't see the wooden base.

First, I took off the yucky lampshade.  The only thing I needed to salvage was the tiny brass screw cylinder thingy (I'm sure it has a technical name but that’s the best I got).  Without it, I would have difficulty installing my newly updated shade and replacing the bulb in the future.  The shade was remarkably easy to break apart with my hands and a flat-nose plier, but now I had to decide what my new one was going to look like.  Originally I was thinking about making it torchiere-style (yup, I don’t know what the screw thingy’s called but a “torchiere’s” no problem); however, I looked through my miscellaneous supplies and found the removable base of an insulin needle that would be perfect for a cylindrical shade.  Now for the explanation.  I have a close friend whose grandparent has diabetes.  I had never seen an insulin needle before, and when I was helping her out one day, I noticed that the orange parts that cap the needle and base might be useful materials for future projects.  So, like the thrifty pack rat that I am, I asked her to save me some, and it finally paid off.  That's a winded explanation; I just thought it needed a little clarification on why I have random medical supplies lying around.  

Anyway...I wanted to match the cylindrical shape of the plastic cap.  I could have just used the orange plastic as-is, but it would look a little too retro mod for my project, so I bought a sheet of pearl vellum (which also happened to be 50% off at Hobby Lobby, bam!).  

50% off $0.59 = a happy me

I cut the base of the cap to use as the base of my shade and poked a hole in the middle to place the screw part.  The plastic was very soft, and all I needed to use was a needle tool.  Also, the cap already had a hole indented in the center so I didn't even have to measure (not that I would have anyway). 

The next step was to insert the screw portion and cut a small, rectangular strip of the vellum and glue it around the base.  I left the base orange to see what it would look like all lit up, and the results were just what I was looking for.

The Sharpie's only used to hold the glued paper together because I couldn't find a clip.  

So much for my resolution to stay organized.

What was once a weird, blockhead floor lamp is now a weird, cylindrical floor lamp.   

 Off / On

Success!

Note: If you don't have insulin needle parts hanging around, look for plastic pieces from household products.  Hair styling sprayers have great little caps.  Or just cut a round piece of mat board and paint it.  You can do anything with mat board.