Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Vintage Quatrefoil Shades

I have been creating (with the help of my husband) some really different industrial pendant lighting from vintage lamp shades.  Basically, I find the lampshades with interesting shapes and he wires them to my specs.

This is the first one we assembled.  After he added a socket, wiring and a chain,
 I made a burlap cord cover and added some crystals. 


Recently I found this pair of vintage shades.  Their custom silk shades were dry rotted, but that makes it easier to remove the fabric.  Usually I just use one shade frame, but since they matched I asked him if he could join them and make one long pendant.  Of course he said yes.


Have you ever looked closely at a custom shade?  There's no hot glue involved.  The wire frame is first covered with a flat bias hem tape.  I decided to not remove the tape.


Then, both the outside fabric and then the lining are individually hand stitched onto the wrapped frame.

Hand Stitched Shade Fabric
Don't you love the quatrefoil shape?


We joined them together with a wired socket, a threaded tube, a loop, a lock washer, and a chain.


To complete the look I added some burlap webbing and crystals.



Here's another angle with the webbing featured.


I love the mix of the rustic burlap and the elegant crystals.
It sold in the first 15 minutes of the barn sale to a new customer who was going to hang it
 in an alcove in her bathroom.

Kathy



1 comment:

  1. Kathy you are so talented...I love what you do to old items that everyone else would throw away. You think outside the box. Your are a inspiration to others like myself who want to re-use, recycle items but just don't know how to. Thanks so much for sharing!!

    Kristen

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