Atomic Lampshades

Today I let the staff do the chandelier shades, bedroom shades, lounge table shades, (all the ordinary shades), etc and I am doing something DIFFERENT!
 Matt Allison , the well known urban farmer in Cape Town, contacted me to manufacture an atomic lampshade for his 50's lampbase.

 This base has two light fittings.  The one is for a bright light (like reading), the other - just for light.





And it has 2 pull chains to switch them on and off - clever!  - Ideal for electricity saving in South Africa.

This is all the planning I did.

And now:  for the fabric.  The 2 cone shape shades will be black cotton and the centre drum will be a beautiful fabric from Skinny la Minx.










Now we are busy with the wiring, then the epoxy coating, and then I will post pictures again of  how we progress....

And sometimes we are a factory

Most of the time I do a posting of an interesting shade/shape/style that we are working on in the Studio, but real life is not about the one-off shades that we style or restore.  No - behind the Studio walls, we are actually a little factory, producing lots of little shades, big shades, and lots of middle size shades for hotels, lodges, guest houses and B & B's.  Where-with just a little peep of 30 shades we did for a local hotel....

Restore a Square Bell

One of the most beautiful lampshade shapes, is the Square Bell.  As we hardly see or find it to buy in South Africa, clients often ask me to recover and restore these shades.  Herewith pics of a recent restored shade:

This is the old shade:

Here, we have stripped the old fabric, cover the outside with a cinamon colour silk, and lined it with an off-white lining:

We have finished off the shade with a self-fold trim in the same fabric:

And this is the final product!

Some texture...

Fabric with texture makes the most beautiful shades, as gives warm, richness and feeling to the shade.  One just wants to touch it!

Herewith some textured fabrics that just arrived at the Studio:

Where will I start?

A few old lampshades arrived and I wonder what it would look like once recovered?

Granny's Doily Shade

Hello everyone. 

 I finished the doily shade today.  3 Doilies, like this one, were used to complete the shade. 

I used as small scalloped frame for the lampshade.  It was stretched at the bottom and around the edges of every second vertical wire.

First, the doilies were pinned to the shade, to see how and where I could overlap it.  Then I sew the top and bottom to the frame.  Glass beams and a matching trim were used to finish it off. 

I used the teardrop beads on every scollop and the small glass beads right around, just to finish it off.  The Beautiful multi-coloured trim was used around the "neck" of the shade.

And this is the final product!

Keep the doilies!!

Valentines Day

Do you want to spoil yourself on Valentines Day?  Why not get a new lampshade for your bedroom or your special space at home?  This lampshade was specially made for  Valentines Day in  Bright Red Satin and finished off with  lush red feathers for a vibrant lovable look! It will  be on sale on the Market.