Old-fashioned Streetlight Lampshade From Poster Board and Grocery Bags : 8 Steps (with Pictures)

I love old fashioned streetlights. This lampshade turns any lamp into a mini streetlamp and is surprisingly easy to make. Only costs about $2!

Materials:
-grocery bags (white)
-2 pieces of large posterboard (black)
-Popsicle sticks

Tools:
-Scissors
-Hot glue (optional)
-School Glue
-Box cutter or X-acto knife (optional)
-Printer

Step 1: Print and Trace Your Template.

Find a good template for a streetlight/lantern. I used the Cottage template from this pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/364580532313723147/?s=3&m=keep

Since you're going to need to go big with the lamp, you might consider cutting out one side of the base and the topper and tracing those onto your poster board 4 times, as I did. this makes it easier to enlarge the template image and still print the part you need on one sheet of paper. Since the base and the topper are assembled separately, I used one sheet of paper each.

Disclaimer: Any time you're making a lampshade, be careful to make sure that no part of your lampshade will be touching the bulb. For my lampshade, I made sure that no part of the shade is less than 3 inches away from the bulb. I'm not responsible if you smother a light bulb with paper and burn your house down. I would recommend holding your printed template pieces up to your lamp so you know if you need to go bigger or not.

Step 2: Trace & Cut

Trace your printed template onto your posterboard and cut it out, leaving a little bit of extra on the same side of each piece (these tabs will be where the glue goes when you start to glue).

Optional: Ruin your workspace tabletop by pressing too hard with an X-acto knife (just kidding don't do that).

Step 3: Glue Grocery Bags

Glue grocery bags to the back of your panels. I used school glue. Instead on trimming the excess, I found it easier to glue the excess down. Some excess had to be trimmed because it was far too long, though.

Step 4: Glue the Panels Together

Use the tabs you left to glue the panels together. Each tab goes on the back side of the other panel. I used hot glue for this because it sets quickly. You might need to crease your corners a few times to get the shape right since posterboard is stubborn.

Step 5: Adding Stability and a Hanging Mechanism

I glued popsicle sticks to the inside edges of the lamp to help guard against warping. I also added 2 strips of posterboard across the top (making an X) and cut a hole in the middle section so I could hang the base on the little screw on my lamp where the lampshade normally screws in.

Step 6: The Topper

This is the easiest part. Simply trace your topper template onto the posterboard, cut it out, and glue the sides together. Make sure that if you enlarged your template image before printing you are using the same proportions for your topper as you did for your base.

Once you've finished, hang the base of your lamp and add the topper.