Only you will know that this contemporary interior design element is a really easy paper craft, lovingly handmade by you. Yes, this paper lamp will be a statement piece in your home but the best bit is, it’s recyclable and can be used with energy saving lightbulbs too!
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What you’ll need to make a Contemporary paper lamp
- Paper surprise surprise, I actually used 2 sheets of light card.
- Ruler or some kind of measure
- Paper folding tool (unless your ruler has a rounded edge)
- pencil
- Cutting tool
- Cutting Mat
- Gold Pen
- Hole punch or needle with large eye
- String in the same or a contrasting colour to the paper
- Hot glue Gun (not shown)
- Lamp kit like this one
- Low energy lightbulb (not shown)
Here’s how to make a Contemporary paper lamp
- Measuring & Cutting
Using the cutting tool or scissors and the cutting mat, cut each piece of card to 12×25 inches. Add a line of paper glue to the short end of one of the pieces of card and place the short end of the second piece of card on top so that you have one long strip.
- Making the folding lines
With the ruler, measure along the bottom of the long edge making a mark every 2.5 inches. Repeat with the opposite (top) side. Draw lines with the gold marker, joining the top and bottom marks.
You will end up with twenty sections. Somehow, I ended up with the last section being slightly smaller than the rest but once the paper lamp was finished you couldn’t notice it at all so don’t panic if that happens to you.
Next, make an ‘X’ over two sections as you can see in the photo below.
- Folding
Before you start to fold the lines score them carefully using a craft knife. Make sure you do this gently so as not to cut through the card completely. You could use the back of the cutting knife for a blunter edge. Take your time and make sure you score right to the end of the card. Scoring the card will make folding much easier and result in a crisp clean fold.
Gently fold the vertical lines first, zig-zagging back and forth (like an accordion).
- Shaping
Now comes the hardest part of this whole paper lamp process – but you’re almost finished so take your time. Where the ‘X’ meets in the middle of the card should be pushed up towards you and the vertical lines should be pushed down. I found it helpful to press over all the folds with the rounded edge of a small wooden ruler before I started shaping. The crisper the folds, the easier it will be to shape the paper lamp without it tearing.
- Attaching the light to the paper lamp
If you want to see the gold edges (as I did), turn the shaped card over so that the gold is on the bottom. Make a hole through each of the folds which are pointing upwards. If you don’t have a hole punch, you could thread the string through a large embroidery needle and push that through the paper instead.
Thread the string through the holes.
Pull the string together to form the lampshade and tie tightly.
Using the glue gun, glue both bottom edges of the lampshade together.
Slip your light kit through the lampshade and your paper lamp is Finished!
So there you have it, contemporary interior design on a tiny budget with a low impact on the planet, what could be better than that! My paper lamp will be the show-piece of my tiny office, where will you hang yours?
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Other paper crafts to try:
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