It’s on the gawdy side but it’s neat looking and charming. I purchased a lamp from the Dollar General, a nice color for my children’s crafts/art room– it’s where I sew and make things with them when they’re not working on their own individual projects. I suppose you can say it’s my play room, not just theirs, lol…
The shade wasn’t the best of condition, no wires in the middle of the shade to hold onto a lightbulb. I stripped the shade completely off, wrapped the lamp shade wires with red velvet– a roll of second-hand ribbon I found at a flea market for 50 cents.
Tie off the ends of ribbon only having to make one knot per length of ribbon since velvet does not slip.
I began to unwire the ends of my “spider” kitchen cooking utensil [an extra] with 5-inch long-nose pliers. The wire runs through holes of the bamboo handle so it was pertinent that the wire ends be flattened on a hard surface with a hammer. I’ll salvage the handle for another repurposing craft.
Start unwiring from the outside; run the long wire through, flatten ends, then curl [bend] and tighten with the pliers 2 leftover ends so they are not sticking out anywhere.
The wire mesh of the utensil fits snuggly inside the frame of the shade but also resting on the bulb. Everything is not touching the bulb or close enough for it to catch fire. It has the same proximity that the shade’s original material had. The velvet ribbon holds it even tighter without slipping off the wires. Stick feathers of several kinds through folds of velvet; you can also clip them on with bobby pins. I added buttons and brooches with pins, old jewelry, even earrings, and adornments from a broken-down decorative candle stand. There was no need for the use of glue on this project. I thoroughly this and it looks nice in this room where we spend much of our time together.
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