Fabulous Lampshades

Sea Shell Lampshade

Materials:

25 Bimini snail shells #50651
1/2 lb. mini sea urchin spines #57275
Braid & Button Fringe Elements trim #732903
roasted almond color Hana Hemp #928504
small self-adhesive lampshade
1/2 yard shell fabric* or 1 sheet handmade paper
glue gun
hot glue sticks
hand drill and small bit
large craft (doll-making) needle

*We used a scrap of Mocha Shell Cloth #69502. You could also use plain fabric and hot glue your own shells.

1. Peel protective paper off lampshade and use it as a pattern or template to trace and cut shell fabric or paper, cutting 1 inch larger than the template.

2. Roll the lampshade onto the fabric or paper and press in place by hand (figure A).

3. Clip edges on top and bottom and fold to backside. Secure with hot glue (figure B).

4. Drill small holes into the mini sea urchin spines (some at one end and some at the other), and into the Bimini snail shells (place the drill bit on the inside of the shell and drill out).

5. Thread the large needle with a piece of Hana Hemp long enough to comfortably go around the shade bottom one-and-a-half to two times (this gives you plenty of working room). Hana Hemp will easily split into multiple strands; usually half a strand is narrow enough to work with the needle and holes yet strong enough to hold the shells.

6. String the sea urchin spines and snail shells together, four spines for each snail shell, continuing until you have a "fringe" long enough to circle your lampshade bottom (figure C).

7. Hot glue the "fringe" to the shade bottom, gluing only the snail shells. This will allow the sea urchin spines to be movable fringe.

8. Pop the shade on a great lamp base. Adhere torn pieces of handmade paper to the lamp base (figure D).

9. Starting at the top of the base, hot glue scallop shells around the lamp base (figure E).

Materials:

small self-adhesive lampshade
glue gun
hot glue sticks
scissors
pan of hot water
1/2 yard celadon Silk Shimmer fabric #54843
3 periwinkle & cream French dried hydrangeas #62026

1. Dip the piece of Silk Shimmer into the pan of hot water and crunch with hands for a few moments. Gently squeeze out excess water and watch it crinkle up right before your eyes!

2. Allow to dry, or use a hair dryer the fabric will scrunch up even more.

3. After the fabric is dry, open and/or straighten it out with your hands. Peel the protective paper off the lampshade and use it as a template to cut out the fabric, making it about 2 inches or more larger than the template all the way around. Because of the crinkles, you want a very generous amount of fabric for the shade.

4. Wrap the fabric around the shade and pat it into place . The crinkles make it virtually impossible to mess up this step! (figure F)

5. Trim the top and bottom edges. Turn under to the back side and hot glue to shade back.

6. Cut the dried hydrangeas into the individual flowerets. This will look like small bouquets, each flower having about six "bouquets." Discard the heavy stem. Hot glue flowers to the bottom rim of the shade, allowing them to overlap lower than the edge (figure G).

7. Continue adding flowers until it is as full as you want it. You will need to hot glue some of the petal edges to the shade and some to each other to anchor them where you want them and to prevent them from drooping from their own weight.

Tips:
This makes a great bedroom table light. Set it on a scarf of crinkled Silk Shimmer for a very romantic look.
We made a very ethereal lamp base for this shade with an inexpensive glass base covered with one of the Spun Silk Potpourri papers, below.

Glass & Silk Lampbase

Materials:

"champagne potpourri" Spun Silk handmade paper #33048
colored glass lamp base
Beacon's liquid laminate
sponge brush

Steps:

1. Tear the Spun Silk paper into small random pieces. Brush the liquid laminate onto a small area of the lamp base and gently position the paper pieces over the laminated area. Lightly brush more liquid laminate over the paper.

2. Continue working in small areas until the entire surface is covered. The papers can overlap lightly; areas where you apply more laminate to the surface will be more transparent, and a lighter application will leave some parts a bit more opaque.

3. Allow to dry. If desired, you can add a protective coating of any water-soluble sealant.

4. Add a great-looking shade like the one above and plug it in!

Tips:
Depending on the color of the glass base that you use, you may want to choose a different shade of Spun Silk Potpourri paper. We were working with pale blue glass and didn't want to further darken the shade of the lamp base. The champagne color is always a safe choice.