Thrift Thursday and Tutorial Tuesday: My New Shade

Well..

where else would Thrift Thursday and Tutorial Tuesday Meet but WIP Wednesday?
Here is my new thrifted lamp, and a tutorial so you can make a fancy paper shade...
Just like mine!

Thrifted Lamp: 4.00
plus Paper to recover shade: 2.50
Equals Deluxe Custom Bedroom mood lighting for under 10.00
(and greenish to boot.)

Many lamps from the thrift store are fine except for shade issues. This one was pretty good but very lightly crunched on one side and dusty and cheap looking all over...

Recovering the shade with paper is a quick and inexpensive fix that works best on squared or drum shades.


This type of fix works best on shades that are in this good of condition or better. For shades that are discolored, deeply dented or torn, you would want to mount the paper onto a plastic lampshade backing or heavy bristol board white paper (using a spray mounting adhesive) and use only the metal frame of the lampshade, removing all the old fabric and lining.

For this easier fix, I simply traced the lamp shade panels and cut them out of the pretty paper. I used a high quality sheet of wrapping paper for mine, and a rotary cutter and straight edge to cut it, for a more professional edge.



These panels were glued onto the dusted shade with a strong permanent glue stick. I used a line around the edges and held it in place manually until it adhered firmly.
I used a glue stick to avoid any discoloration or puckering that you can sometimes get with liquid glue. A permanent book binders double sided tape might also work, but only if your paper isn't too transparent.



I then cut 2 inch strips which I folded into a paper bias tape of sorts. Folding the strip in half and then folding each edge in until it met in the middle on the fold line.

You could also use a pre-made fabric bias tape in a coordinating color, as it would both look beautiful and be very easy to work with, needing none of the notching on the corners outlined in the following steps.

The paper trim is then glued on the inside fold and applied to the sides of the shade. They are mitered to exactly fit the sides with no bulky overhang.

If you are not recovering a lamp, but rebuilding one from the frame up, it would be a good idea to use a single thickness of paper glued tightly on each seam and the top and bottom of the lamp before applying this paper trimming over the top.

To apply a strip of paper trim to the top and bottoms of the shade you modify the strip by unfolding and trimming a 1/4 inch off of what will be the inside edge (That is the side of the trim paper that will be facing the inside of the shade and wrapping over the wire frame.)

Then glue the side with the fold so that the crisp edge of the fold meets the bottom, if you are doing the bottom ( Top for the top, of course) of the wire on the frame. Notch a small 'v' in the outside of the tape, Just at each corner edge, so that the paper folds neatly around the outside.
additional touched of glue will make this lay just right.

You next fold the unfolded trimmed inner paper over the wire and glue in place. Make sure your crease stays visible by not over pulling the paper to the inside. I made several small cuts to get the paper to round perfectly on the inside corners and made sure each side was well set before moving to the next. I also hid the seam on a back corner of the lamp shade.

If you are recovering a drum style shade, make these tiny cuts all along the inner edges. But if you used fabric bias tape, don't need to make any.


Place the shade on your lamp, or on your head, and do a happy dance, because you're all done and it was un-believably easy!