A Made Shade

Lamps are expensive here in Zambia. When I found a black wrought iron table lamp at a garage sale for only $50, I was pleased. The problem with the lamp was the lamp shade. The plastic on it was brittle and falling apart. A replacement shade seemed impossible to acquire.

So I decided to make my own, using the shade the lamp came with. First, I strengthened the frame with, what else, duct tape! The hard part was 

figuring out what to use to cover it, and what look did I want the shade to have. 

The finished product

After much thought I decided on soaking strips of mutton cloth in strong tea~Five Roses, of course! Mutton cloth is used for cleaning floors and is very inexpensive. When the strips were dried I began hot gluing them to the shade. Should I leave the edges of the cloth curled, or glue them down? I decided to glue them flat.

What I ended up with was a lamp with a very African flavor. In this last picture it almost looks like animal hide. Asking people what material I used for the lamp shade is a conversation starter. However, my house helper Justina knew exactly what fabric I used! Short conversation!

It's been a while since I've crafted something other than knitted dishrags, and this gave me quite a sense of accomplishment. Just a small taste of what our Creator God feels, I think.