A Tale of Two Lampshades

Last fall I began making a fabric shade for a wire frame I came across (where? can’t remember…). It wasn’t easy. But I like this kind of challenge.

As usual, I got the bulk of the work finished in a frenzy and then got hung up on the finishing details.

My friend Sara found the perfect quirky yellow lamp base to go with it at a thrift store (she found a pair and was willing to part with one). So the unfinished shade perched jauntily on the yellow lamp for a few more months on the windowsill in my studio, taunting me to find solutions to the various problems.

In January I had an ‘aha!’ moment and finished it up. It ended up a bit of a wonky crazy-aunt-cat-lady looking shade. But I love it nonetheless.

If you wish to make yourself crazy try your hand at this style of lampshade, here are the full instructions! Download 800 kb PDF: 129twigandvine_lampshade_DIY

Then today. A second lampshade came into view.

This new collection of IKEA shades (called LYRIK), designed by Sissa Sundling are so simple, I have to ask myself, why do I choose to make things so hard?

Yet my final lampshade is about as one-of-a-kind as you can get. Believe me, I doubt I’ll be making another one like it. But I do love it!

For the next one I’ll take some tips from Sissa and try just one kind of fabric.

Discovery of the LYRIK shade came via Poppytalk.