For many years I have created unique one of a kind lamps and lamp shades but haven’t had the opportunity until a few weeks ago to play around with some new designs.
This is what I’m calling my distress series and it arouse out off a time in my life that I really needed to be rescued . . . in many ways ; )!
I used the same wash canvas fabric that I used for my pillows for the base of the shades. The red fabric is a cotton that I had in surplus and the rest is machine and hand stitching to make it all come together. You will also notice a zipper at the top of one which is an upholstery zipper trim.
Red Cotton Fabric added to Washed Canvas
The most challenging part is stitching the completed design to the metal frame. I choose to hand stitch which was a larger project than I had originally thought . . . which is so often the case for me.
“Rescue Me” was machine stitched before applying the design to the frame
Vintage pulleys were used to suspend the shades from the ceiling and then the lamp cord was wrapped with a ruff hewn rope.
Both shades hung by a custom fixture at our studio
Shades with center piece at our Open Studios event
Another shade that I made after the distress series is “The Collector”. This shade elements come for things that I have collected or stored over a few years. The main fabric is from a coffee sack that was given to me by a friend. The keys are some that I have collected over the years and the wire base is an old GE fan cover. The bird that was appliquéd to the coffee sack is some of my original artwork that was printed onto an organic cotton fabric.
Coffee Sack, GE Fan, Old Keys and Original Artwork printed onto fabric
There are things in our life that we are drawn to for one reason or another . . . lighting and lamps are two of those things for me and I hope in the future to add some lighting designs to my product lineup at Carrier Collective!
