I am a high school math teacher and I recently won an award. It is a perpetual trophy in the form of a huge Nike sneaker that gets passed from one staff member to the next each month. It is the "Big Feat" award "In recognition of doing something big for BHS." Since it is a major award, I felt it needed the Christmas Story treatment. However, with respect to the award, I needed to make it in a way that did not harm the original. The following instructable covers how I made the leg lamp insert.

Step 1: Gather Your Materials!

Step one, of course, is win an award in the form of a giant shoe.

Materials Needed:

Shoe
Mannequin Leg
Stockings
Battery Packs
Batteries
Light Sockets
Lights
Wire
Glue
Switch
Solder
Velcro
Drill
Scissors
Lamp Shade
Lamp Shade Holder Thingy

Step 2: Fitting the Shade Holder

Find a position for the bracket to rest on the mannequin leg that will allow space for all of the electric hardware and also the switch without being overcrowded or conspicuous. Drill holes in the appropriate places.

Step 3: Connecting the Power

I decided to wire the lights in parallel. One wire connects the positive lead from one battery pack to the negative lead on the other. Two wires come out of the negative lead for eventual connecting to the lights. One wire goes from the positive lead on the battery pack to the switch where it splits into two leads for the lights. I left the wires significantly longer than necessary because I think it'll help when the time comes to replace the batteries. Feel free to add comments about the proper way to do this sort of thing. Once I had this much soldered together, I installed the switch into the mannequin leg.

*Be careful when soldering, it is easy to melt the cheap plastic battery housings.

*Pay attention to the way you install the batteries. My first time through I put one of the batteries in backwards. This resulted in some smoke and bad smells.

Step 4: Assemble the Light Apparatus

I used hot glue to hold the lamp holder to the lampshade bracket. I am assuming the lights won't get hot enough to remelt the glue. Huge gobs hold them to the center bolt. The series of photos shows how I connected the negative leads and then the positive leads. I used a little bit of velcro to secure the batteries to the bracket. Next I tested to make sure everything works and that the light is bright enough to illuminate the leg. Before going any further, I also took a moment to make sure the lamp shade fit well over all of the batteries and such.

Step 5: Stockings...

It is somewhat a surreal experience putting stockings on a mannequin leg. I stretched the stockings over the leg and then used a liberal amount of glue to hold it in place. I cut away excess at the top in effort to keep the whole thing from catching fire.

Step 6: Final Assembly

Now that the lighting apparatus is working and the leg has the stocking on it, it is time to do the final assembly. I simply screwed the bracket into the holes that I drilled earlier, wrapped the excess wire around the neck and then stuck the battery packs down. All that is left to do is put the leg into the shoe and install the lampshade.