I turned birch for the first time a few weeks ago. I didn’t have high hopes for it, never heard of anyone really turning it before. Long story short, birch is great. It has a really interesting grain and can be turned very thin when it’s green (so thin that it will crack if you drop it). And I’m pretty happy with how these small lamp shades turned out.
Take 2 on the glass lamp shade.
This time I tried smaller sections of glass. That means a lot more cutting and a lot more soldering, but I really like the look. It reminds me of subway tiles. Anyway, it sure beats the gunk shade.
I ran out of glass, so I fear this shade will be in a holding pattern for awhile.
I make a lot of lamps, but I always have a hard time picking out the right shade. Usually, the only shades you buy are crap. So I decided to learn how to make my own. I got my hands on some how to DVD’s on stained glass making. Glass cutting aint easy folks, so I decided to go simple: clear glass rectangles in a cylinder shape.
The glass cutting went ok, but the soldering was a mess. I used plumber’s flux, which is some messy stuff. It also left a lot of gunk on the glass. Not the look I was going for, for my first lamp shade. Back to the drawing board.
I also probably shouldn’t solder next to my pots and pans.
