Tiki Modern lamp

I have been making concrete tiki's for my yard and house lately (still working up to a fountain) and I got the inspiration to make a lamp, largely spurred by a Witco lamp pictured in 'Tiki Modern' that has a cool bachelor pad leopard print lampshade. I don't have the chain saw that would allow me to reproduce the Witco look, but I set out to create something that would have that tiki modern feel that my heart so fondly desires.
I went out and purchased a make a lamp kit, and bought an extender (they call it a nipple) that allows you to create a long neck. I cut a length of black bamboo which I have in the yard and reamed out the joints so that it would be hollow, then I fitted it over the lamp nipple. The bamboo is a lot longer than the nipple, by the way.
I then fitted the lower part of the bamboo into a length of cardboard tube. I created a top for the tube with a hole in the center to help stabilize the bamboo. I put a second circle of cardboard in the tube to help with stability as well. You can't see it here, but I cut an opening in the backside of the tube to allow my wiring to go through. I put a piece of tape up on the neck to make the area, so I would know where to later make a hole in the concrete to go through the tube. I covered that hole and the bottom of of the tube with a plastic bag 'window' to keep the concrete out, then covered the rest of the tube with duct tape to keep the whole thing waterproof for it's encounter with the wet concrete.

I cut the bottom out of an oatmeal box and lined the box with a length of plastic sheeting. I mixed three parts sand to one part portland cement (plus some black colorant) together with enough water to make a pudding like texture. I poured it into the oatmeal box around the lamp fittings and put the top with a hole cut into it on the top to help stabilize the lamp while the concrete set. I put the top from another oatmeal box on the bottom. That little window you see cut into the top represented my idea that I could pour the concrete in through that hole. Nope, that did not work.

After about five hours, I carefully peeled away the cardboard and the plastic sheeting.

I used a saw to taper the sides of the tiki to give it the profile I was looking for. I then pinned on and traced simple paper template to help keep things even on both sides as I worked.

Then started carving. The cement was (and is) very soft- just like a sand castle when there is still a lot of water in the mixture. This is great for removing material easily, but not good for getting any kind of detail, as it is VERY easy to screw things up. So I am leaving it at this stage until late this afternoon or maybe this evening, at which point I will start to go in and clean up the wonky lines and generally tidy things up. I will also clean up the bamboo at that point.

By the way, I am hard on the hunt for the ideal leopard print fabric with which to cover the shade for this. I want something that looks like classic fifties or early sixties leopard print, which tends to have the look of a pelt with a darker area where the leopards backbone runs. The prints I am finding online are more a over all pattern. I really want this thing to look period correct.... if any one here has any ideas, please let me know.

[ Edited by: Gwen 2013-05-04 14:47 ]

Love where you are headed with this lamp. Great idea.

As for vintage fabric, you might try Etsy. I have had luck on there before finding stuff that I couldn't find on ebay.

Good luck. I look forward to seeing more on this lamp.

Dale

Gwen,

Love the lamp, what a great idea! When you get a chance post some pics of your yard tikis. Or if you have already, point me in the right direction. I'd love to see your growing group!

Here is the lamp base as of today. I am pretty taken with this sand heavy concrete mix. The sand creates a matt finish which I think has a very early sixties look to it. I want to do a giant version of this for my yard!
I will post a final photo of this lamp after I have hunted down the right leopard print fabric to make the shade. Hope I don't have to wait too long.

DIG IT!

Here is the lamp as of today- all finished! I made the shade from buckram and covered it with some fabric I found at Jo-ann fabric. I admit to being very pleased with it. I really think it has the mid century swinging bachelor pad vibe that I was going for.

[ Edited by: Gwen 2013-05-07 16:44 ]

Here is the lamp as of today- all finished! I made the shade from buckram and covered it with some fabric I found at Jo-ann fabric. I admit to being very pleased with it. I really think it has the mid century swinging bachelor pad vibe that I was going for.

img]https://tikicentral.com/uploads/77548/51898fd3.jpg[/img]

Wow! Impressive mid century modern look! I really dig it!

Looks great Gwen. Are you familiar with http://www.spoonflower.com ? If your computer graphics skills are as good as your painting skills you can design your own fabric for lampshades (or whatever). No minimum and prices start at about $20/yd. That could be expensive if you were making a California King bedspread, but not so bad for a lampshade. Sophista-Tiki has over 100 great Tiki designs there you could buy also. I suspect she paints some of her designs as watercolors then scans and manipulates them but I don't know that for sure. At any rate, it's a great resource for an artist.

On 2013-05-07 19:15, MadDogMike wrote:
Looks great Gwen. Are you familiar with http://www.spoonflower.com ? If your computer graphics skills are as good as your painting skills you can design your own fabric for lampshades (or whatever). No minimum and prices start at about $20/yd. That could be expensive if you were making a California King bedspread, but not so bad for a lampshade. Sophista-Tiki has over 100 great Tiki designs there you could buy also. I suspect she paints some of her designs as watercolors then scans and manipulates them but I don't know that for sure. At any rate, it's a great resource for an artist.

Thanks for the wonderful tip, Mad Dog Mike! What a great business concept that is. My computer graphic skills are non-existent, but I just signed up for a class to help remedy that, so perhaps in the not so distant future I might be able to make use of spoonflower. I had so much fun making this lamp I am half tempted to make more and see if I can sell them.

Great looking lamp. I think you succeeded in creating the look you wanted. Wonderful job.

Dale

Gwen, you can always paint a fabric pattern then scan it in! Then it would have a painterly look to it. Food for thought.

On 2013-05-08 04:23, Hale Tiki wrote:
Gwen, you can always paint a fabric pattern then scan it in! Then it would have a painterly look to it. Food for thought.

Good idea. For now, I am obsessing on the lamp base itself. I keep looking at this and thinking how it would be better if the base where longer with a more pronounced taper. So I guess I will be doing a second one when time allows.

The completed lamp looks good, Gwen.

I think your next one should be a traditional Moai. MAking them to sell is an excellent idea but it would have to be from ITMP or something because I think shipping would be cost prohibitive.

Very cool lamp Gwen, great job!

On 2013-05-08 08:04, LoriLovesTiki wrote:
The completed lamp looks good, Gwen.

I think your next one should be a traditional Moai. MAking them to sell is an excellent idea but it would have to be from ITMP or something because I think shipping would be cost prohibitive.

Thanks for the kind words, Lori! If I decide to make them to sell, I would definitely do a traditional Moai. I would also cast it from concrete mixed with vermiculite, which would make it drastically lighter weight.

On 2013-05-08 08:04, LoriLovesTiki wrote:
The completed lamp looks good, Gwen.

I think your next one should be a traditional Moai. MAking them to sell is an excellent idea but it would have to be from ITMP or something because I think shipping would be cost prohibitive.

Thanks for the kind words, Lori! If I decide to make them to sell, I would definitely do a traditional Moai. I would also cast it from concrete mixed with vermiculite, which would make it drastically lighter weight.

Wow that is a really cool lamp. You've started something great.
I wish that you would put all of your projects on one post so that we can scroll through them and never loose track of one over time.

Each time you do a new project you can just edit the title by going to page one - edit and type the change and submit. I do this every day. Your thread with all your projects would be terrific to see together.

Cheers, Wendy

On 2013-05-08 09:04, danlovestikis wrote:
Wow that is a really cool lamp. You've started something great.
I wish that you would put all of your projects on one post so that we can scroll through them and never loose track of one over time.

Each time you do a new project you can just edit the title by going to page one - edit and type the change and submit. I do this every day. Your thread with all your projects would be terrific to see together.

Cheers, Wendy

Thank you for the great tip, Wendy! I will do just that.

That turned out very nicely, now let's see another!