This crafty Vinyl Wire Industrial Woven Lampshade craft project is a great way to use an unusual material to make a cool and modern lampshade perfect for almost any loft I have ever seen.
You can use any old or damage fabric lampshade as the base for this project to save money. I like to use a vinyl wire for this lampshade because it has an awesome industrial look and is super affordable. You can buy this vinyl wire at your local home improvement store on rolls.
To make a Vinyl Wire Industrial lampshade you will need:
Small Fabric Lamp Shade (can not be taller than your pencils)
Vinyl Wire Industrial (quite few yards)
Floral wire
Scissors/ Tin Snips
Hot Glue
The first step is to cut your Vinyl Wire to length. Simply measure how far the space is from the top of your lampshade to the bottom of you lampshade. Cut your Vinyl Wire about 20 times longer than this. You will need a few pieces of this. You may want to cut shorter pieces to make it easier to wrap your lampshade.
Now, cut your other Vinyl Wire so that they are long enough to wrap around the lampshade left to right. You will need enough to reach from top to bottom on the lampshade. Make them about three inches longer than they need to be to wrap around.
You will have 2 different lengths of Vinyl Wire. The size of your lampshade will determine how many pieces you need.
Now, you need to completely remove all of the fabric from your damaged or existing lampshade. Start by poking some scissors through the fabric, then cut away. Once you have the body of the fabric removed then start working on the material wrapped onto the wires. This will take some time, but is a great way to save a little money and salvage and exiting lampshade.
Tip: If you don’t have a damaged or existing lampshade you want to get rid of you can buy these wire frames of a lampshade at any lampshade store. Some arts and crafts stores will also sell them.
Now, take your first piece of long Vinyl Wire. Place a line of glue on the upper and lower round wires of the metal lampshade frame. Press the Vinyl Wire in place vertically, like a line running up and down the shade. Fold the top end over for a finished look. Now wrap it back down the inside and come up the bottom around to the front again.
Now, continue this piece up, around the top, down the inside again, and back up until you have the entire lampshade covered in vertical lines of vinyl wire that covers your lampshade.
Now, continue repeating this process all the way around the lampshade. You can space them however you would like. I recommend placing the vinyl wires directly next to each other with. This way you won’t find yourself staring at the bulb of the lamp.
You could also use epoxy glue for this easy lampshade craft project. You can glue down the end piece or tuck it into some of the other wire, whichever works for your look.
Now, once all of your vertical vinyl wires are in pace you can start weaving the horizontal pieces. Start at the back of the lampshade in the bottom. I like to use a little hot glue or some floral wire to hold one end of the vinyl wire strip in place. Now, r weaving. When you reach all the way around cut any excess vinyl wires off and glues the two ends together to hold it in place. You could also wrap them together and snip off any extra.
Repeat until the whole lamp is woven.
Tip: For a really checkered board look use two different colors of vinyl wires. For a whimsical look try using all different colors that fit the theme.
Always use a low watt bulb and never leave the lamp unattended.
