Simple Elegant Paper Lantern/Light, So Easy and Cheap

Hello today I'm going to show you how I made this awesome lamp shade for under ten dollars! Also if you could vote for me for the contests if you like the ible that would be awesome! :) so let's get to it,

Step 1: Materials

So in order to make the lamp you need:
-A paper lantern (I got mine on eBay, but you can get one at Walmart or the dollar store)
-A lamp socket extender (eBay again)
-Paper
-Glue gun
-1 Paperclip
-A lightbulb (I used a rgb lcd bulb I bought on eBay for a couple bucks)
All in all it only costs a couple bucks and about an hour of your time :)

Step 2: Cut Up Some Paper

So basically we are trying to make lots and lots of paper triangles and there is no wrong way to do it, this is just the way I did. So I folded the paper into thirds then cut along the creases. Then I took one of the rectangles and I folded it from one corner to the opposite diagonally. After cutting along this crease to make a triangle, I used that as a template. After making a ton of those hahah, it's time to glue them on the lantern.

Step 3: Time to Hot Glue!

Next all there is to do is to glue the triangles on the lantern. In order to do this you need to start from the bottom and overlap them as thickly as you want until you get to the top. A good way to do this is to use the wire lines that hold the spherical shape as a guide for where to attach the triangles.

Step 4: Hang It Up!

Now comes in the lightbulb and the paperclip. Screw the lightbulb into the socket extender and fold the paperclip in half, as shown in the picture. You the use the paperclip to hook the lantern to the socket extender, and then you screw the extender into a ceiling socket.

Step 5: Light It Up!

All there's left to do is to flip the light switch and enjoy your awesome new lamp shade now that it's hung! It was super simple and super inexpensive, yet a great eye catcher. I like the way an rgb lightbulb looks on fade, but a regular lightbulb works as well. Enjoy your new stylish lamp shade! :)

Comments

[Passion Make]

I guess you can use low wattage bulb or LED to reduce heat! Beautiful pattern

[mulrich125]

Thanks! :)

[bergerab]

This looks so amazing! Great pictures. But does the light inside of it get hot at all?

[mulrich125]

Most lightbulbs now are compact fluorescent and wouldnt produce nearly enough heat, but even if you had an incandescent in there, since the diameter or the lantern itself is 12", the blub would be about 5" away from any side: too far away to pose any real threat. Also there is a fairly large hole on top for ventilation so I dont really see it as being a fire hazard. If you felt differently though you could certainly spray the inside with some simple fire retardant spray which you can pick up at home depot. Thanks for your message! :)

[schabanow]

Lovely but steal too much light. Not a green idea unfortunately.

[hardlydavidson]

@mulrich125 hey this looks totally amazing. It's the simplicity of this that makes this Ible great. One look at it and I say "oh man this looks easy ...why didn't I think of it". That's a compliment btw :) Thanks for sharing this very elegant lamp idea.

[tsmith157]

Thank u so much for sharing. I love it. I design clothes by painting them and I paint. I just started a lil business selling the stuff I make so this is next on my lest for selling.

[shizy25]

I saw this and I was like ' I've seen this!' and I was right :-) but
yours is different in that it has color options :-) Which is great!

here is the other if you like to check it out

https://www.instructables.com/id/Stalactite-Paper-Lamp/

[summerinhawaii]

Nice! Thank you for sharing :)

[Treasure Tabby]

Really neat. It reminds me of the cocoon of the bag worm. A moth caterpillar which builds these elaborate cocoons out of what ever it finds close by, like pine needles and such.

[sinansoykut]

I love the look of these lamps, did you check out drekrugs?

https://www.instructables.com/id/Stalactite-Paper-Lamp/

[mulrich125]

Oh wow do I like the look of the smaller triangles! would have been nice to have a large cutter like that instead of scissors too haha but looks like they had the same idea and their also came out awesome! :) happy crafting,

Matt

[verence]

Looks good, but for a real i'ble there's something missing between step 4 and 5. It's just a 'before' and 'after' - but the 'in-between' is what counts.

[mulrich125]

Agreed, I tried to explain it as best as possible because I forgot to take pictures in the middle! thanks for commenting!

Matt

[ckoehler1904]

Looks beautiful. The only concern I have is that of heat from standard bulbs. For instance, I'm fairly sure that a halogen bulb in it would likely result in a fire.

[mulrich125]

Most lightbulbs now are compact fluorescent and wouldnt produce nearly enough heat, but even if you had an incandescent in there, since the diameter or the lantern itself is 12", the blub would be about 5" away from any side: too far away to pose any real threat. Also there is a fairly large hole on top for ventilation so I dont really see it as being a fire hazard. If you felt differently though you could certainly spray the inside with some simple fire retardant spray which you can pick up at home depot. Thanks for your message! :)