Making Lamps

(Just a little disclaimer: this is a VERY amateur attempt at explaining electrical wiring...seek a better resource if you decide to try this!)

Italian sink

Anthro lamp

I first saw this lovely in Anthropologie a few months ago and knew immediately I wanted to reproduce it. My 19 year old daughter/Pinterest-addict was with me, and she expressed how much she loved this lamp! Sounded like a Christmas project to me! I started pondering how to drill holes in porcelain without splitting the teapots and cups into many pieces. I also had to keep Jessie's mind off it, as we wandered in to the store again and again so I could have a second and third and fourth look. We had transformed a large piece of Italian pottery into a sink once, so I knew there was a way. I went to Lowe's and asked for a masonry drill bit (I was secretly thinking that if this didn't work out, I'd ask my dentist, Julia, for one of her old diamond bits...teeth are a lot like porcelain, and besides, she's also really creative and would understand, I was sure). I was able to find one that would drill the perfect sized hole for the wiring.

My dear Dad is one of those men who can do just about anything, and he became my tutor for this hair-brained idea. After scouring every Home Goods store in the area, I collected enough white teapots, teacups, saucers, creamers, sugar bowls, etc. that I would need to create four lamps, all of them just a little different, but all about the same size. I went to Lowe's again and gathered the lamp "guts"... all the components that make a lamp, well, a lamp - bulb sockets, harps, long pieces of threaded pipe, cheap extension cords which I used for the wiring and plug. Dad showed me everything from how to run his drill press (slowly and patiently so as not to crack the porcelain) to how to do the wiring. He was also kind enough to make some masonite bases so that the cord wouldn't cause the lamp to be uneven on the bottom. 

Wiring 101

So, here we go. To wire a lamp, you will need:

• a bulb socket with the type of switch you prefer
• an inexpensive extension cord (cheaper than buying a length of insulated wiring)
• a length of threaded pipe for lamps
• a package of nuts and washers to fit the pipe
• a harp unit (two pieces)
• wire cutters/strippers
• two small screwdrivers, one Phillips and one flat head

Begin by cutting the "female" end of the extension cord off with the wire cutters. Discard this. The cord will have two sections. Pull them apart about 2" down. Strip the insulation off to expose the bare copper wires. Twist the copper wires (there will be many of them in each chamber of the cord) tightly clockwise, so that you have two groups of wires. Now you have a length of cord with a plug (the "male" end) at the end. This will serve as the main wiring unit for your lamp. 

Thread the cord through the length of pipe, which has a nut, the harp base, and the bottom-most portion of the socket already screwed on the top, in that order. 

(This photo shows the socket already wired which we will cover in the next paragraph.)

Now, work with the bulb socket. The socket comes apart; separate the components into three sections until you have this one alone:

   

Notice that there are two screws on the sides; one opposite the switch and one 90 degrees to it. Loosen these with a screwdriver. 

Re-twist the copper wires if necessary after threading through the pipe, tightly clockwise, so that you are working with two groups of wires. Each group will be twisted around a screw on the socket. Wrap the twisted wires clockwise around each of the screws, one twisted group of wires to one screw. Tighten screws. Place the top third over the wiring and switch, then those two sections of the bulb socket into its bottom piece which is already screwed onto the pipe.

    

The Scary Part

Now, place a bulb into the socket, plug it in, and turn the switch...if the bulb lights up (and you don't get a shock!), you've wired it correctly! Congratulations! It's a pretty awesome feeling, huh? I feel like I should get an "A" from my seventh-grade science teacher...remember that unit on electricity, and the commensurate science fair projects? 

                                       

Now you can send the long piece of threaded pipe through whatever you want to use as a decorative lamp base...in this case, teapots, cups and saucers. Super glue gel was my best friend in this project. It held all the components together so well, and didn't take long to set up. 

Cuteness!

In the process of making the ones for the girls, we were celebrating my dear friend Ana's 50th birthday. She and her husband invested 7 years of their lives living far from home to launch a church in Krakow. She has collected pottery from a town nearby, and I have seen it in stores around here. So I was able to get enough pieces to create a lamp for her, too, and celebrated her as a "light" to Poland for all those years at her party. The blues and florals in this pottery make a really beautiful piece. And it holds special meaning for her family.

Final Touches

I had several lids from creamers that were super-cute, so I really wanted to try to fashion some finials for the lampshades. I bought inexpensive metal finials from Lowe's and super-glued the top of each to a good-sized nut, so that there would be a flat surface on which to glue the creamer lid. When that was dry, I glued it inside the lid...all of this involved some stabilizing using spools of ribbon or tape. In the end, I had some really cute finials! I didn't purchase shades for each lamp, so that the girls could choose their own, but I "practiced" with one I had around the house. But there are tons of adorable shades at Lowe's, Home Goods, and other places right now. 

             

I couldn't wait til Christmas. Plus, my oldest daughter was going to get hers in the mail, and I wouldn't get to see her reaction. So I gave them out when everyone was here for Thanksgiving. It was a climactic moment when they opened their boxes! Such fun!