Friday, September 9, 2011

Martha Graham Lycra Lamp......House Beautiful

Beauty 1 Black and White Lycra Lamp Sculpture 
Since the dawn of time wire hangers and stretchy fabric have
gone together like Romeo and Juliet, like peanut butter and chocolate, like
Crayons and coloring books. You get my point.
  I think this lamp looks a lot like what Martha Graham would
have in her home.
  I love it with
all of it’s twists and turns.
  One
word of caution, yours will be totally different from mine because there is no
way two of these can be the same.

YOU’LL NEED

1 yard of super stretchy Lycra of Spandex fabric
Sewing machine
3 wire hangers
6’ Socket and cord set
1 energy saving cool light bulb
Needle and thread
Pliers
Straight pins

 HERE’S HOW
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 1.    Unwind the 3 wire hanger and bend them into loops like shown.  Don't worry if they aren't perfect. Leave the excess wire bent toward the inside (like on the white hanger above)
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Cut your Lycra/Spandex 20” by 36”
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 3.  Fold it in half, right sides together, and sew a 36” long tube
out of your Lycra/Spandex. Use a zigzag stitch, it's easier. 
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  4. Smoosh one wire circle and spiral inside the middle of the
tube and the other two at each end with the circle part of the wire toward the
mouth of each end of the tube.
5.   Use your straight pins to keep all the wires in place.
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 6.    Flip the 1” excess inside each mouth of your lamp and tack it down with the needle and thread. This hides the wire and gives it a nice finished feel.  
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 7. With your needle and thread, stitch around the circle part of
each wire only to keep in place so it doesn’t move inside of the tube.
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 8.     Bend the excess of one of the end wires toward the top of the lamp
so that it can wrap around the socket part of your socket and cord set and so
that it keeps it in the center of your lamp and so the light bulb is not near
the fabric at all and you're done!

 *Since this lamp is so light it can easily hang from the
socket and cord set.  Just install
a small hook and hang it up.

 This and 100 more projects in THE BIG ASS BOOK OF HOME DECOR



3 comments:

  1. That is completely, utterly gorgeous! I can't believe how easy - looks so complicated. I love the fabric you chose, too. Thanks for a great tutorial, Mark!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ... seriously? Best lampshade ever. And I mean ever.

    ReplyDelete