A Modern Doily Lamp for less than $50??? Yes Please!

Hello Pretty people! I am so excited to share this “craft” project I found.  My good friend Sarah sent me a link to the blog More Design Please with this adorable idea.  Just look how easy and cheap this is compared to what you would normally pay for a Modern Doily Lamp…I looked it up and some run around $850….and you can make this one for LESS THAN $50!!!!  Umm…YES PLEASE!  This def. might be my new craft project.

If you’re interested in making this, keep reading how you can:

To get started, you are going to need a few things to make this project successful. Here is a list to get you started:

• corn starch
• balloon (they used a 40” blown up until completely round, as pictured)
• upholstery thread (but any thread will do)
• twine
• drop cloth
• school glue
• cheap paintbrush
• petroleum jelly
• lamp kit
• 24+ doilies (I think they found these at a flea market)
• stiff stuff

 They sewed the doilies around the balloon with the upholstery thread, very carefully. (If you don’t know how to sew, or don’t want to…here’s directions you can follow at Lace lamp –DIY without using a needle and thread.) They simply sewed edge of one doily, to the edge of the next, with some random overlapping.

Make sure to create a space to place your bulb socket. They used some twine, and coiled it inside of a circle we cut out to create a custom fit. The image below is after they coated everything with the solution, but I wanted you to see how they prepped the space.

 

Once you have sewn about ¾ of your balloon, stop and do the last ¼ separately. You will join the two parts together, after you have saturated them together in the solution.

 

Lay down your tarp and hang your balloon from some twine above the tarp. They placed a large pipe across our kitchen, placing each end on the counter. They have seen people do similar projects using a curtain rod and chairs – but it’s up to you. They suggest however, making sure you have a large tarp laying under your hanging balloon.

Rub the balloon down with the petroleum jelly.
Mix 5 oz of the school glue with 4 tbsp of the corn starch and ¼ cup of warm water together until it’s not lumpy. They got this recipe from ruffeled.com, from a string lantern they created, and it worked great!
After your solution is smooth, take a cheap paintbrush, and coat the inside of the doily clothes you just created. Try not to use more than ½ of the solution. This is the point where it’s going to get messy, very very messy.
After you have painted the inside of both the doily sheets you have sewn together, place them both on the balloon and line them up to where they connect. Sew the two sheets of doily together. Now, you are probably all dirty from the jelly and the solution, but now you are going to get realllllllly dirty. Use your fingers to cover the whole entire exterior of the doilies with the solution. Yep. Dirty.

 

When you are complete, let your doilies dry for about 24 hours, the pop the balloon!

It should look something like the images above! Use a clear coat to cover the inside and outside of your brand spanking new doily globe! Pretty neat, huh?!? Once the clear coat is dry, give it a few hours, you can connect your lamp kit, and hanging it where you like. They decided to cover the cord with twine, to give it a neutral color story, but you can do what you like! Perhaps paint it a variety of colors? Hot pink? Black? So many colors would look great with your new pendant!

What do you think?  Have you ever heard of anything like this?  I’m still shocked at how cheap this is compared to what you can purchase somewhere else.  I think this would be really cute around the Holidays too!

Hope yall have a fantastic Tuesday.

RGL