Sometimes I see a material and I want to buy it even if I have no clue what I want to do with. I was in this deparment store and this shinny grey color caught my eye. It was not aluminium sheet even if it had a grey metalised color. It also looked soft like plastic film.

Beeing home with my sun reflector plastic film, I noticed how thin it was and also that the function was to repel the heat from the sun. As this summer was tropical I used a piece to cover my window and wondered what I could do with the two meters left.

At this point I thought that it would be an interesting material for a lampeshade.

Step 1: Tools and Material

Tools

something to cut plywood: Scroll saw or laser cutter
a pair of scissors
a pen

Material

sun reflector plastic film (1 x 0.3 m)
plywood 3mm (A4 format is sufficient)
white glue (wood glue)
(transparent) tape
a sheet of paper (for the template)

Step 2: Cut and Glue the Frame

Download the DXF file and cut the crown and the seven ribs.

The inner diameter of the crown is 40mm so check if it is suitable for your lamp socket.

If you don't have access to a laser cutter, doing it by hand should be a 30 min job (with a scroll saw).

Step 3: Cut the Reflector Film and Tape It

You need a patern in order cut the shape of the plasic film. I did one with a sheet of paper positioned like in the first picture. You can see the ribs by transparency through the paper so you can trace it. Finally, cut the seven plasic film shapes using your patern.

Place a tape on each inner rib part. The tape being larger than the ribs, you have now an adhesive surface on each rib side. Centimeter by centimeter apply the plastic film on the adhesive face.

This last step can surely be improved in order to have the plastic film regularly tight but I im still searching how... If you have ideas, I am open to any suggestions. On the other hand, these waves create random reflects on the ceiling and I cannot help but contemplate them.