08/06/12 - 0 Comments
Add a Personal Touch to Your Home with a Homemade Lace Lamp
Girls love lace. That’s a proven fact! And, if your home is anything like ours, you’ll have numerous scraps of random material dotted around, just in case one day you find a use for them. With a bit of fairly simple DIY prowess you can easily give your lighting fixture the personal touch it may be lacking, using bits of lace you may have at home or have bought at a fabric store. The best part is that, once your lace lamp is finished and lit, it will cast some beautiful shadows from the lace patterns onto your walls, truly giving your home a unique look and feel.
Objects needed
Lace—fish out any old lace you have, whether it’s scraps of an old blouse or doilies from your grandma. This will be needed to make the ultimate lace lamp.
Large round balloon—the bigger the better.
A mug or glass—something sturdy to hold your balloon up whilst you’re decorating it. Try to ensure it is not too large so that your balloon just sits atop it.
Glue—any kind of strong glue, such as PVA or wallpaper glue
Light fitting or bulb on a stand—to give your lamp some light!
Method
First, blow up your balloon. Make sure you don’t blow it up until it’s too tight, as you don’t want to get halfway through making your lamp and have it burst.
Place the blown up balloon into a sturdy mug or glass with the end facing down. This is so that you can cover your balloon without it scrambling every few seconds to catch it.
Ensure your glue is a good consistency—this means not too thick so that it masks your lace. Water it down if it’s looking too goopy.
Begin to lay pieces of lace onto the balloon and cover them in glue. Cover each piece of lace one by one with a sufficient amount of glue. Try to connect the pieces as much as possible. If your lace is thin, do a couple of layers on top of each other.
Leave a small ring clean around the bottom of the balloon (probably a little larger than the size of the glass it is sitting in), as this is where you will eventually fit your light inside.
Once your balloon is entirely covered in lace, apply one more layer of glue to the whole balloon and leave it to dry overnight.
Time to pop the balloon! But make sure the lace is entirely firm before you do this.
Now that you have your lace lamp, attach your light fitting through the hole you have left and secure it by sewing it to the lace.
Some alternatives
You can try using different colors or shades of lace, or different styles, to add some quirkiness to your lamp. It doesn’t just have to be a lamp, though—why not transform your balloon into a fruit bowl by only covering half of it in lace?! Make sure you add some extra layers though, to ensure it’s sturdy enough to hold produce, and you’ll need to find something circular (like an old thick bangle) to place the bowl on.
Photo credit: IknowIFeel
