DIY Origami Lamp : 10 Steps (with Pictures)

This is an easy DIY wooden lamp with changeable paper origami shades.

Step 1: Making Parts of Wooden Frame.

The size of the lamp can be according to your liking or space.

The dimensions of wooden pieces I have used for the frame are (w x d x l) :

15 x 7 x 380 mm - 4 pcs

15 x 7 x 230 mm - 8 pcs

7 x 5 x 350 mm - 4 pcs

Take a suitable piece of teak wood or any other preferable type of wood and cut them into pieces.

Use a band saw or a table saw to cut the pieces in dimensions.

The wood I have used is teak wood and I took it from a old furniture piece.

Step 2: Sanding.

Sand the wooden parts with a rough and a smooth sand paper until you get a smooth finished surface. The sand paper I have used is of 60 grit to remove excess material and 220 grit for smoothening it.

After sanding it by hand you can sand it on a sanding machine with a fine grain sanding belt on it to achieve a final finish.

Step 3: Assembly

Paste the pieces of wood with a strong adhesive to make a cuboidal frame as shown in images above.

Step 4: Sanding and Lacquer

After pasting the pieces together leave it to dry for a night and give it a final hand of sanding to give it a finish look. Make sure no glue stains are visible.

Apply first coat of lacquer and let it dry and sand it very lightly and then apply second coat of lacquer to give your frame a final finish.

Step 5: Putting MDF Base.

Paste 4 small MDF or wood pieces on its base and keep a MDF base with a centre hole in it on those 4 resting pieces.

Step 6: Putting Metal Plates

Put iron plates on inner side of the wooden frame. The position of iron plates should be on the corners of each rectangular frame. Stick it with araldite or any strong adhesive as shown in images above. Total 16 pieces of iron plates were used.

Step 7: Origami Shades

Use any translucent thin paper to make an origami paper shade

I have used a rice paper and made a hexagonal tessellation origami out of it. You can find videos of how to make it on youtube or you can refer to Eric Gjerde's book named Origami Tessellations.

Step 8: Attaching Paper Shades and Bulb.

Paste the origami tessellation on a rectangular plane sheet. Place the corners of paper shades on the metal plates and put magnets on them.

The panels are changeable. You can change the paper shades and try different origami tessellations patterns on the lamp.

Attach bulb holder and a 15W off-white LED bulb inside.

Step 9: There You Go... :)

Step 10:

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14 Comments

jeanniel1

4 years ago

For a surprise, you can add the origami to the inside, and when lit, it shows up as a nice unexpected touch. Very well-documented.

OculumForamen

4 years ago

I love it when people add Origami to their projects! I have practiced Origami for nearly thirty years now, and it has only been since the start of the 21st Century that I have noticed lots of young people practicing it as well. Origami is such a beautiful artform and to see it getting this kind of exposure, it just makes it a much broader known artform and people get involved in it. I wish that schools taught it just like in Japan! there is no Japanese person alive, who grew up in Japan that DOESN'T know how to fold origami models. It helps children in many ways that people don't understand. and there are too many to list here. Anyways, Great Job, it is Both Beautiful and elegant in design and truly captures the beauty of Origami! Fantastic Job!