Making Lamps from Just About Anything

Making your own custom designed lamp can be a fun project that will add a personalized look to any room of your home. There are a number of good reasons for making your own lamp. You might want to create a truly unique design, or perhaps you just want to save some money. Either way, you'll soon find that you can make lamps from almost anything. Here are some creative ideas you can use to make a lamp from materials you can easily find around your home.

Basic Tools and Supplies

If you plan to make your own lamp, you'll first need to gather a few basic tools and supplies. You'll need a pair of pliers and a screwdriver and perhaps a drill. You'll also need to purchase a lamp kit, or individual electrical components to allow you to wire your lamp. Lamp kits won't work for every kind of lamp base. However, they are easy to use, especially if you've never tried making a lamp before. Because the lamp base will determine the kind of lamp kit or hardware you will need, you should choose your lamp base before purchasing your hardware. Of course, selecting, decorating, and customizing your lamp base is probably the most enjoyable part of the project.

Choosing a Lamp Base

By using a bit of imagination and creativity, you can use almost anything as a base for your lamp. This is the part of the project that allows you to take a lamp from a purely utilitarian object to a work of art. Wine bottles, milk bottles and canning jars are always perennial favorites, especially since you can fill these clear containers with a variety of decorative materials. Rustic objects such as pottery jugs, blocks of wood, or even a tree branch section can also be used. You can plan to decorate your lamp base by using paint, decoupage, glass etching, or other creative techniques. If you choose a solid lamp base, such as a block of wood or section of tree branch, you'll need to drill a hole in it in order to properly install the hardware and wiring.

Fun and Decorative Lamp Base Materials

If you've chosen an opaque lamp base, you'll need to fill it with a heavy material such as sand, stones or metal weights to give it stability. However, if you've chosen a clear container such as a wine bottle or milk bottle as a base, you'll be able to choose a filling material that will add beauty as well as weight to your lamp. Materials such as seashells, marbles, smooth river stones, or sand art can all add a decorative look. To make a holiday-themed lamp, try filling a clear container with festive holiday decorations, such as glass ornaments, pine cones, or candy. You can also cover your lamp base with fabric strips, torn paper, postage stamps, photographs or other materials, using a decoupage method. Twigs glued around a wooden lamp base can produce the perfect rustic lamp style to accent your favorite Southwestern wall art.

Assembling the Lamp

Once your base has been prepared, you can follow the instructions provided with your lamp kit to assemble the lamp. When finished, add a lamp harp and a lamp shape that looks good with the base. Then, simply add a light bulb and enjoy.