Make a Coral Inspired Lamp

Good morning to all the lovely readers at Remodelaholic! This is Ananda from A Piece Of Rainbow, where I blog about useful and unique DIY for our homes and gardens!

You probably know how much I like to create with paper and light from these paper house luminaries I shared here recently.

Or these pretty paper lanterns.

Today, it’s also a DIY with paper + light- we are making a double function lamp inspired by coral reef – both table and pendant lamp – from colored paper and LED light bulb (no worry of fire here, more on why LED at the end!)

Why yellow? When I saw Cassity’s GORGEOUS DIY yellow Swedish clock, it was love at first sight! Yellow has such a happy vibe, and  looks so pretty in many styles of decor. So yellow it is!

How to Make a Coral Inspired Lamp from Paper

Materials and tools:

• construction paper of your favorite color. It took 5 sheets of 8.5″x11″ paper to make a shade about 14″ diameter.
• glue or Mod Podge, and paper clips to help with the gluing process
• compass to draw (you can also use circle lids of many sizes) and scissors to cut paper
• pendant cord, optional yarns to transform the cord
• LED bulb : it’s important to use LED bulb with paper, because it generates much less heat. A 7.5 watt LED bulb lights up like 40 watts, and a 10.5 LED lights ups like 60 watts! Again- NEVER use incandescent bulb with paper!

Step 1:

Draw a series of curves on the paper. These are about 1″ wide. Cut them into smaller sections anywhere between 2″ to 5″ long arc, so we can get various sizes of little “tubes”.

Glue each piece into a little tube like shape. One end of it is smaller than the other. So when we glue more together, it will start to form a dome!

 

 

 

 

Step 2:

Start gluing a few pieces into smaller clusters, then into bigger clusters. The paper clips are so helpful in holding clusters together as the glue dries.

Once we get enough of them to form a circle, we can finish the form with some final touches – add some more tubular pieces till it looks complete. I left about 7″ diameter of opening at the top and bottom. Feel free to improvise. The organic look is very forgiving!

 

Step 3:

Now let’s give this mass produced pendant cord a beautiful custom look! We can accomplish this easily by wrapping some nice colored yarn around the cord. Use a clip to hold it when you go take a break =)

It only took 20 minutes to wrap this cord. I stopped at the switch since the rest will be behind a table. Put a little dab of glue, or tie a knot at the start and at the end.

Step 4:

If you want to use this as a desk lamp, we are done!

If you want a hanging pendant, use a paper clip and some fishing line. Tie a few knots like shown in photo below, so the triangle made from the paper clip can sit on top of the pendant socket. Easy, right?

Important tip to remember: NEVER use incandescent bulb in close contact with paper! Paper lamp shades are sold at many fancy stores. But always remember to use LED bulb, which generates much less heat.

For the hanging pendant, I used a branch and just propped it between a desk and the wall. You can add a wood or concrete base to it to fit the need of your space. Now let’s enjoy the beautiful glow of our designer lamp!

Before I go, here is another 3D paper project you may enjoy trying, a shadow box inspired by birch forest!

Happy creating!!

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More DIY lamp ideas:

Make your own tripod lamp

Turn a glass vase into a lamp

Ikea Hack Bedside Accordion Lamp

Or 25 more lamps here!