Bamboo Lamp (How I spent two days of my life to save $15 at Pier 1)

Just finished my latest project, kind of a diversion from the jade carving, but I had an idea and just ran with it to get it where I wanted.

Made some banana paper from yard trimmings in small sheets (6x9) and used a wood glue solution to veneer several into one giant sheet.

Cut out some frames with a old busted jig saw, mitered the corners with an angle grinder, I'm surprised they came out as uniform as they did with the crappy tools I had on hand!

Quick mockup to make sure the paper fits!

Starting to glue the bamboo infield in to the bottom, getting it all in and locked down first then cut the tops all uniform.

An old cord and light socket I'm cannibalizing for this project. Put a switch on the cord (Had to break down and go to Home Depot for that.)

Broke the terminals off the socket and soldered the cord direct, used a roll of plumbing solder from (No kidding) the 1960's I got at a rummage here. (Is that even safe?)

Mounted the socket to the base.

Testing the electrical out with the flicker bulb I am using, pretty much at this point just making sure it doesn't catch on fire or the solder get hot and melt out, never soldered any 120V before, in theory it seems like it will work?

Glued and braced upside down w/skewers, really looking like a bad idea at this point.

Flipped back over and hit w/a coat of stain, at long last I'm starting to think it won't be a total disaster!

Paper shade glued in and cut out, super glue and razors made that part pretty quick at least! Kept getting so impatient up to this point waiting for the wood glue to dry.

Finished at last and in its new home in our bedroom! Need to get a better shot with our real camera, phone doesn't work so well in low lighting!

Bonus shot of the doghouse in progress. Too much time on my hand has at least been fun!

Great work wirk! Good ol' fashioned Yankee ingenuity :lol: I have a special affinity to the idea of spending 2 days (and $30) to save 15 bucks. I usually recognize that when I'm about 6 hours into the project but by then it's too late to bail out.

I think it turned out great, waiting to see better pics. Tell me more about the handmade banana paper?

Higher Resolution.

[ Edited by: djwirk 2011-01-30 21:56 ]

On 2011-01-30 21:49, MadDogMike wrote:
Tell me more about the handmade banana paper?

When one of our plants was harvested I took about a foot of the psuedostem and cut it up into 1/4 inch segments then pressures cooked it for an hour, then added a little bit at a time to about half a gallon of water and blended the pulp out of it.

I had never made paper before, but in theory it seemed pretty easy, I made a giant screen, big enough for the entire shade and tried repeatedly to pour the water/pulp mixture over it, but was unable to get anything anywhere near uniform, always super lumpy or a big hole in the center where the water settled last.

Ended up taking a 6x9ish photo frame and putting some old screen on that, then mixed what pulp I had salvaged from the first attempt with a bunch more water in a Rubbermaid tote, stirred it up real fast and ran the screen through, then just turned it upside down on a cutting board covered w/an old shirt and blotted the water out by pressing rags into the back until they were pretty dry, at this point, I would blow on the screen from the back until a corner came loose and then pull the paper off gently, roll it up in a paper towel and microwave it (It's been really cool and humid here lately so didn't think it would ever dry unassisted.)

I Made several small sheets and then overlapped them on centers and blotted them with a wood glue / water solution kinda feathering the edges to get it to blend, let the glue tack up a bit and hit the whole sheet with a clothes iron on high to flatten it out.

Once it was all done, I super glued it into the frame, used the water/glue solution to seam the back up and called it good.

All-in- all I had a lot of wasted time learning and guessing. At least I suppose if I ever do it again it'll go much quicker!

it looks great and for what its worth having the skill to MAKE your own lamp no matter how long it took far outweighs the lack of mentality it takes to just go buy it.

2 days for 15 buck saving. Can I hire you but for the job and not the hour.