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Cost: $ $ $ $ $

Difficulty: • • • • •

Time: 2h00

Make Your Own Lampshades
Hunting through old secondhand stores can result in
some really interesting finds—here a collection of old
hinged rulers has been transformed into a real talking
point. The shade looks just as good with the light off as
it does on.

Posted by Ryland Peters & Small • Published 31st January 2014 • See Ryland Peters & Small's 148 projects » © 2024 Elizabeth Cake / Ryland Peters & Small · Reproduced with permission. · Make Your Own Lampshades by Elizabeth Cake is published by CICO Books and is available from www.rylandpeters.com

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Step 1
Using a tape measure,
mark out 8 in. (20 cm)
sections on your yardsticks
with a pencil, avoiding any
brass hinges etc. Use a
hacksaw to cut them to this
length as neatly as possible,
making sure they are all the
same length. Sand the ends smooth
with sandpaper.
Step 2
Mark a dot in the center, 3⁄8 in. (1 cm) in
from each end of each ruler, and another dot
3⁄8 in. (1 cm) along from that. Use the drill to
drill small holes where you have marked.
Step 3
Measure the circumference of one of your
lampshade rings and take a length of garden wire that is
about three times this measurement. Thread the wire
through the top hole in your first ruler, from back to front,
then through the second hole, from front to back. Twist it
back round itself, twist once around the ring and repeat
with the next ruler.

why not?
Use different-colored wire for
a cool contrast effect.
Step 4
When you have gone right round the
ring, making sure that the rulers are evenly
spaced, twist the two ends of wire together
to secure. Trim the ends and tuck the twist up
under the ring to hide. Repeat step 3 with
the other ring and the holes at the other
ends of the rulers.