a ByProduct lamp-shade

or how to make an (almost) effortless unique lint lamp-shade.

as you all have probably noticed while you dry your clothes in a drier there is a fair amount of lint (which is actually short fibered felt that is created by fibers from you clothes mixed with water a soup leftovers from the washing machine) accumulates in a special compartment. in industrial driers this interesting looking felt has a fairly large container. I came up with an idea how to put this useless by product into use !

Step 1: Ingredients

this project is as much about the process as its about the final result !
you will need :
a metal sieve sheet (usually used for windows) or a ordinary kitchen sieve.
water based glue
a spray container
an second hand lamp and lamp- shade or a lamp-shade frame from a hobby shop.

and the most important ingredient - a very kind local laundromat that will allow you to use their industrial drying machine.

Comments

[vipulbhatia]

Instead of lint, you could as easily use newspaper + cotton + water in a blender. Blend it till you get a paste and then use it. Its better than this lint since you can control the percentage of cotton and colour as well. Just a thought :)

[porcupinemamma]

does the "lamp shade sit on top of the light bulb?

[saronpaz]

no it doesn't. I have made a minor adjustment to a lamp-shade frame in order to hold it. I'm sorry maybe i should show that as well....the lamp are in an exhibition in Berlin, once they get back ill be sure to add that to my Instructable.

[porcupinemamma]

Congratulations on having the lamp in an exhibit. I will wait patiently to see your adjustment scary man ;0)

[porcupinemamma]

Love your use of non-traditional materials. I think the strainer lamp shade without the lint would look cool too (then there would be no worries about lint fires.) BTW,your bio picture is a tad scarry (I am a fraidy cat)

[Z1ggy]

its a very interesting idea, but wouldnt this be a fire hazard? I mean lint in your dryer can be a fire hazard, so i would assume that lint over a 60 watt bulb would also be a fire hazard.
http://homerepair.about.com/b/2009/02/14/lint-the-silent-fire-hazard.htm

[DeadNed]

We use to make fire starters in boy scouts with dryer lint and saw dust. they worked amazingly well.

[jauncourt]

YES, this. Lint is so flammable that it makes a fantastic camping firestarter. Please be careful. The strainer shade in particular makes me worry.

[osgeld]

I think the barrel shade would be far enough from heat, but the over top one does raise an eyebrow too My suggestion to saronpaz is to insert the words "compact florescent" somewhere easy to notice, or your probally going to see a bunch of FIRE!! messages ;)

[jtobako]

If you use a dryer sheet, it adds a flame retardant to the lint, and it doesn't work for fire starters (personal experience at camp). Adding anything to the lint, or even just felting it/turning into paper reduces the fire danger to that of paper (and heavy paper at that). Adding glue makes it nearly fireproof.

[Ninzerbean]

Years ago when using dryer lint to make paper was all the rage it was discovered that the lint consisted of quite a lot of skin cells. At first I thought your 'ible was joke but maybe the "common knowledge" about the contents of dryer lint is - can a paper maker step in here with a comment please about why no one uses dryer lint anymore?

[l8nite]

This is a pretty cool idea, IF you have access to commercial dryers you could probably get close to the same effect by collecting the "lint" mixing it with water and dipping the screen into the resulting mixture. Dryer "lint" has many uses from making paper to firestarters, you can bleach it white or dye it just like any other "cloth", mixed with water and paper confetti or plant material to make paper, make a flat sheet and coat with wax, roll it up and cut into chunks for firestaters or even a semilong burning fuel for small campstoves, mixed into planting soil to hold/release moisture... and the list goes on....

[karossii]

When I was a kid my mother took the lint from our home dryer, and instead of throwing it away as most do, she stuffed it into grocery store bas. When she had a few bags full of the lint, she would sew a small decorative pillow or stuffed animal and use the lint as filler. It can be soft and plush if lightly packed, or hard and firm if tightly packed. It worked as well as any cotton batting!

[cowscankill]

Lol... It looks too dirty for me xD

[lemonie]

If you gathered a whole load of reds and dried them do you link that you might get enough lint that was a nice colour? L

[ChrysN]

I washed and dried a bunch of purple bedsheets a few days ago and I noticed the lint had a purplish tinge so that could work.

[saronpaz]

thanks a very interesting question I have asked myself as well (i plan to do more tests and get back to you on that)