You know how I like to collect things… and how hard it is for me to resist picking up stuff people have thrown away when its obvious it can be made beautiful and useful again?

Well, a couple of weeks ago I went past the bins near here and saw this old lamp along with some old framed silk prints. I picked them up. The frames may be fixable, but the silk is beyond repair. I may be able to re-use the frames for something…

The lamp was rusty and the shade was ruined, but I had a shade at home I wasn’t using… providing the lamp worked, it was a great find.

So I brought it home and today, instead of dedicating all my time to preparing for our trip to Athens tomorrow, I spent some time fixing up the lamp. The pic above is after I’d sanded off all the loose rust and sprayed it black.

The pic below, shows it trying out its new shade.

When not sure what to paint on a shade, stick with the familiar… octopus… inspired by the broken lamp I ‘mended’ for a friend a year or so ago. Only this time the octopus is on the shade, not the lamp itself.

The only problem I found was that the paint bled a bit into the shade. Eh. Nothing handmade is perfect! Plus I added colour and re-worked it so the bleed wasn’t so obvious.

Here is the finished product from various angles. I need a ring thingy so the lamp shade sits inside properly, but for now its drying in the corner.

I do love remaking lamps. I’ve done a ton over the years… The rope covered lamp shade which is now on another base in my bedroom. The floor lamp made of old glasses. The Ikea desk lamp that got a rustic makeover. The rag woven lampshade on a retro base. And last but not least, the rusty wire lampshade I’m still using as my main light source when working at my kitchen/studio table… I never could resist old rusty wire.

So, another item added to the plethora of things I have for sale in my home/gallery!

Always adhering to the recycling theme, with a base destined for landfill.

Now to pack my bag for tomorrow.

z