How to Make Your Own Lampshade Kit

Give a friend a homemade lampshade making kit.

A homemade lampshade kit makes an great gift for someone creative in your life. Aside from including the materials necessary to complete the project, think about how you can package these materials in a useful and pleasing way that encourages the person who receives the kit to make the lampshade.

Things You'll Need

• Linen paper
• Pins
• Fabric tape
• Scissors
• Plain paper and pen or computer and printer
• Butcher paper or wrapping paper
• Recycled clear containers

Instructions

1. Place a roll of fabric tape and scissors into a recycled clear plastic container. Wrap several sewing pins in a bunch and secure them together with a length of the fabric tape. Add the pins to the plastic container. Roll a large sheet of linen paper along with butcher paper or wrapping paper to protect the linen paper. These will be the materials necessary to include in the kit. Write down the following steps on a piece of paper or type them in a word processing program and print them out to include with the kit.

2. Measure the diameter and height of the lampshade you want to replace. Cut the linen paper to these dimensions.

3. Make holes in the linen paper using the sewing pins, punching completely through the paper to create a design for the light to shine through. You may choose to punch holes at random, or create more specific shapes such as flowers or swirls.

4. Tape the ends of the linen paper together to create a cylinder.

5. Remove the current lampshade and tape the homemade shade in place using fabric tape, attaching the top edge of the shade to the lamp's metal structure that held the original shade.

Tips & Warnings

• Select linen paper in a color that complements a room in the person's house. You may use a solid colored paper, paper with a printed pattern, or one with flecks of metallic colors within the paper.

References

• Threadbanger: Paper Lamp Shade How-to