Cut into the required lengthCut the slats into the required length with normal kitchen scissors. The length depends on your design and how long your slats were to start off with. I quartered mine and since my design leans itsself towards uneven lenghts I didn’t even measure.
Trending Videos
Non Seasonal Yard Decor00:00/08:01
Paint if requiredI spray painted some of my slats on both sides. I first applied a base coat suitable to metal, then a Rustoleum chalk colour and lastly a matte varnish.
Make a lampshade fittingTo give structure to the shade you need something to adhere the slats to. I used a disposable foil plate that is thicker than a normal pie tin. You could also just use an old lampshade, a wire frame, or a cake tin etc. but I wanted something rectangular and lightweight because I am uncertain on how much weight a pendant should carry and wanted to play it safe. I cut the oblong plate into a rectangle with scissors.
Cut the cornersYou may need to cut away some of the corners.
Create something for the slats to stick toI folded a rim right around my rectangle and flattened it out by laying it on the table and running the back of a craft knife over it. The neater you can get this the better which is why using the lid of an existing tin would be even easier. But doing it this way is fine.
Make a hole for the globe to fit throughUsing a craft knife an or scissors, make a hole in the centre of the large flat surface. Mine was literally a small cross that I folded outward. Take into consideration how the globe and shade will ultimately be balanced. I then spray-painted it white to match the slats.
Stick the slats with a glue gunOnce you have the fitting, start sticking the slats to the rim in a vertical direction using a glue gun. In the picture above you will see that I started by placing the foil fitting on the edge of the counter and then sticking the slats. Remember that the foil and slats are hot so wear gloves if need be. I varied my colours and the height at which I stuck the slats.
Once the one side is done it is much easier to stabilize the fitting and you needn’t work with the slats hanging down the side of the counter. If you are doing a round shade you could lay it on a towel on your work surface to stabilize it.
Complete all 4 sidesAs you can see above it gets easier to position the thing once you have done one side. Even the last two sides, although small, had enough balance due to the slats on the other sides. You can also see that the slats are all stuck at different heights.
Connect the light and hangPut the chord through the hole and connect to power and put in a globe. I decided to bend some of the slats into different directions. This is particularly handy if some of the slats stuck skew because it makes them less obvious. This is purely an aesthetic choice. If you don’t like the higgledy-piggledy look of my lamp you could always stick to straighter lines.