Lighten up your decorating style with witty and whimsical
lampshades. A little inspiration -- plus such everyday items
as ribbons, flowers, stickers, and paint -- turn ordinary
paper shades into eye-catching bright spots.
For painting or decoupaging,
start with new shades or ones in perfect condition. (Crafts
stores carry a range of sizes.) Slightly damaged shades can be
disguised if covered completely with fabric or flower trims.
For the best paint coverage, look for concentrated,
medium-viscosity acrylic artist's paints. Hot-glue guns are a
fast and easy way to adhere trims
. But since heat can soften the
adhesive, use glued shades with low-wattage lightbulbs only.
Permanent fabric glues work well in all situations.
Flower stickers bloom on a
simple shade colored with acrylic paints. Using a foam brush,
paint the shade with two coats of artist's paint. Dilute the
color with an equal amount of white, and paint a 1
1/2-inch-wide band at the top and bottom. When the paint
dries, add the stickers.
Tutu
Sweet
A ballerina-style bedside lamp is just tutu sweet dressed in
organza and roses. Choose a shallow cone-shaped lampshade of
light-colored paper or fabric -- the flatter the shade, the
more it looks like a ballerina. Cut organza to measure one
inch longer than the shade and double the bottom
circumference. Join the short ends in a 5/8-inch seam, then
trim away the excess seam. Hem one edge in a 1/4-inch rolled
hem. Gather the remaining edge with your fingers and use
fabric glue to attach it to the top of the shade, allowing 1/2
inch to extend beyond the shade. Glue the extension to the
inside of the shade. If you want, cover the inside edge with
narrow ribbon. Clip the stems from silk roses and glue them
around the upper edge.
Sheer fabric and silk roses
transform an ugly duckling shade into a graceful swan. Match
the organza to the shade color or choose fabric and roses that
contrast slightly-pink, peach, soft green, or ivory work well
over white shades. (A colored light bulb also adds a soft hue
to the shade.) Tulle fabric works well for this shade and
often is available with glittered designs for the holidays. A
rotary cutter and a wide ruler make cutting the fabric much
easier.
Leaves of Light
Autumn leaves blow across a shade that's painted the color of
a forest floor. When the light is turned on, the white leaves
glow with light against the opaque background. A paper shade
of any shape will work for this project, but a flatter surface
makes the reverse stenciling easier.
Draw or trace a leaf onto
cardboard, then cut it out. Trace the shape on the nonsticky
side of wide painter's tape. Cut out the leaves. Stick the
leaves to the shade and seal down the edges by pressing with a
credit card. Using long, even strokes, paint the shade with
two coats of concentrated, medium-viscosity acrylic artist's
paint in green or your desired color. After the paint dries,
carefully peel away the tape.
The process used on this shade is the opposite of stenciling
-- the design is masked off and then painted over. Low-tack
painter's tape is the key element. It sticks down well but no
sticky residue remains behind when it's peeled away.
To help with the placement of
the leaves, set the shade on your lighted lamp while you're
working. The light will help you determine if the leaves are
evenly spaced around the shade.
Old Technique,
New Look
This timely shade employs clip art
and the age-old technique of decoupage. Clip-art books,
available at art and graphic supply stores, are filled with
reproducible drawings and images. Almost any subject is
covered in these low-cost treasures, making it easy to
customize a shade to any room or hobby. Paint the lampshade in
your desired color. Photocopy the images, then cut them out.
Paint the backs with white glue or decoupage medium and smooth
the images onto the shade. If desired, finish the shade with
two or more coats of decoupage medium.
Artist's paint
comes in a wide range of colors, making it easy to match a
lampshade to your room decor. Before painting, make sure the
shade is clean and in perfect condition. Paper shades work
best, but avoid those with a glossy surface-the paint may peel
away. After the paint dries, place the shade on a lighted lamp
and check for streaks or thin spots. Keep touching it up until
the color is even.
