If you would like to have some beautiful, groovy, colorful lamps for your home but you can't afford designer prices, I am going to explain to you how to recycle old lamps so that they look fantastic.
The first thing you need of course is an old lamp base and a lamp shade, preferably one that is light colored. Make sure your lamp base works by putting a bulb in, plugging it in and switching it on.
It doesn't really matter if the base is made of wood, metal or ceramics, as long as its shape appeals to you. You might want to just clean the base up to bring it back to its former glory, or you may want to paint it. If it's ceramic, make sure you get the right type of paint (i.e. ceramic spray paint) otherwise it might flake off after a while.
If you can't afford paints, one good trick is to cover the base with bits of colorful wrapping paper. Stick them on with good quality PVA glue and when dry, cover it all with a clear varnish. This will give the base both a nice finish and good protection.
Once the base is done, you can start to work some magic on the old shade. First, if the shade is dirty or stained, give it a good sponge wash with hot soapy water, sponge-rinse it and leave it to air-dry.
Next you will want to find some off-cuts of light, colorful materials from a dressmakers' material shop, a market stall or a haberdashery store. These will be used for covering the shade.
Using a pair of pinking scissors, cut the materials into rough 2" to 3" squares. Then, one by one, cover the reverse side of each square with your PVA glue and stick it somewhere on the shade. Continue doing this until most of the lamp is covered. For any remaining sections of the lamp shade that haven't been covered, cut some of your squares down to size to fit into the gaps.
When you've finished this stage, you should have a lovely patchwork effect of different materials on the lampshade.
The final step is to glue some edgings onto the top and bottom of the lamp. You can either do this with strips of material, or with tassels or fringes, again available from haberdashers and market stalls.
You will be amazed with the results. Congratulations, you have turned a boring, tatty old lamp into an object d'art!
