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Creative gal Clarity Miller uses old photography slides to light up lampshades.
Clarity Miller first saw her inspiration for the slide lampshade while browsing a Japanese magazine nearly four years ago.. “I had seen something made out of some sort of transparencies and figured that I could make something like it,” she says. Using slides purchased from estate sales or online, she creates these conversation pieces. “It’s always flattering when someone walks in and says, ‘wow, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,’” Clarity says. And she would know—she has three in her living room. Go to her web site, www.blackbirdfashion.com, to see more of her creations, or follow Clarity’s instructions to make one of your own.
Tools + Materials
Tape rule
96 2x2 inches cardboard edge slides
Pencil
Drill + 1/16 inch drill bit
288 jump rings (used to make jewelry)
Metal lampshade frame, 10 inches in diameter
Needle nose pliers
Scrap piece of 2x4 in. wood
Lamp base
60-watt light bulb
1. Create a drilling template by measuring 1/8 inches from the edge, centered on each side of a slide and mark with a pencil. Drill the holes in the template slide and then stack up to three slides to drill through. Drill 80 slides with four holes and 16 with three holes, leaving the bottom edge clean.
2. Open the jump rings. Using the pliers; attach slides with jump rings, one by one, around the lampshade frame in columns of six. The first five slides in the column should have four holes, and the last slide should have only three.
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