Cardboard Pendant Lamp (The Gourd)

First instructable! Hi guys :)

This project was inspired by Graypant’s Scraplights. I saw them online and was impressed by their simple but beautiful forms, and their eco-friendliness. I liked the idea of using maligned materials and making them into elegant designs (Graypants gets a majority of their materials by dumpster diving).

However, I was pretty unimpressed with their pricing. $279 for a lamp made from free materials? No way. I experimented a bit using Maya, ReplicatorG, Skeinforge, and Illustrator and found that the process was not altogether that difficult. I tried to use all free software. ReplicatorG and Skeinforge are offered as free and open source software. Admittedly, Maya and Illustrator are not free. However, if you are a student, Autodesk offer a full featured educational suite of Maya for free at http://student.autodesk.com . If not, you can try your hand at Blender, or Google Sketchup. If there is enough demand, I will try to write an instructable for SketchUp. You can use Inkscape instead of illustrator.

Also, parts of this process will eventually be rendered obsolete by the release of Autodesk’s 123D make application, which can cut out some of the tedium.

I am lucky to have access to a laser cutter. My friend operates a hackerspace called The Build Shop in Los Angeles, and has a laser cutter that can be used for a pretty good hourly rate. If you look up local hackerspaces in your city, you will find that a lot of them have laser cutters you can use. You don’t need to use a laser cutter though! If you have the patience, you can print out your files and exacto knife the cardboard yourself.

Step 1: Materials

Things you’ll need
CARDBOARD-- lots of it. Go dumpster diving, or cut up some old boxes you have on hand
A bulb set and cord - I bought the Ikea HEMMA for 3 dollars online (ikea.com)
A lightbulb -- I bought some reallly cool edison lightbulbs on Amazon which add a really cool warm and vintage glow to the cardboard shades. example here: http://www.amazon.com/ADL-46023-Medium-Screw-BEACON/dp/B002ZPM4ES/ref=pd_cart_recs1
Wood Glue - I like wood glues that have a small nozzle, as it makes it easier to control and be precise
FOR SAFETY (and we want to be safe)
fire retardant (I use No-Burn because of it’s zero VOC and effectiveness on paper) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003M8G39E/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Access to a laser cutter, or a service like Ponoko or Shapeways. Alternatively, an exacto knife, a printer, and lots of patience

Comments

[Stoval]

Step 8 has no pics or text, and more pics would help, but other then that it's laid out fairly well and has what's needed to get the computer stuff out of the way. I like it, and I like the idea. Maybe I'll throw something up at the manroom soon as the inlaws leave! ><

[seankim]

Shazni's has some good images of assembly. His project is very similar to mine and could help you out :)

[shazni]

This is so similar to mine...only yours is nicer :-)
I cut by hand..here are some pictures of assembling in this instructable

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Cardboard-Lamp-Shades/

[seankim]

Thanks a lot! I actually saw yours a while back and was inspired :)

If anyone wants some images of assembly, please check out shazni's instructable!

[liquidhandwash]

very nice lamps. I think ill have a go at making one. step 7you were looking for a script to nest the parts, I use vcavepro not real cheap but will also produce gcodes for most cnc routers and mills. the nest command with move all the pieces for least waste. there website will let you download a trail version.

[seankim]

vcavepro? I'll check it out. Thanks a lot!