How to make sphere lampshades from used coffee cups

Coffee cup sphere lamp

It is always nice to decorate your home with things made from your own imagination. Do It Yourself products always edge over the ones that you generally buy from the store in exchange of a few bucks. The ones made by you bear a touch of your taste and also reflect how creative you are. Such products are also economical and make a great use of things that you generally throw away as dump. On such product is the coffee cup. You probably have never imagined that these simple coffee cups could be used to make beautiful lampshades. While buying a new lampshade is always a bit costly affair, making one for yourself by using coffee cups will be a really nice and innovative thing to do on the other hand. The visitors who come to your house will surely appreciate your genius when you make such a designer lampshade practically out of nothing much worthy. Moreover, it is a green product and you will be further appreciated for your eco consciousness as you make use of the used coffee cups that you might collect over a certain period of time to make the lampshade. So you are in a way promoting the use of recycled, biodegradable products too by this project of yours. Here are the step wise procedure to proceed in your project of coffee cup lampshade.

Difficulty level: Easy

Time required: 20 – 25 minutes

Resources required

1. Coffee cups

2. Stapler pins

3. Stapler

4. A big washer

5. A small washer

6. Electric wires

7. Electric wire socket

8. Lamp

9. Pinbolds

10. Scriber

Instructions

You need to collect about three hundred coffee cups for your project. Therefore, you can go slow about your work and wait to collect the prescribed numbers of used coffee cups over a period of time. But, if you are in real hurry to see the resultant of your effort in a short time, then you can buy the stuffs from the local shop too. Once you have collected enough of the coffee cups, go about your project by following the steps described here carefully.

1. Make the base of the lampshade

Take three plastic cups to begin with to create small units at a time. This way the process of attaching the coffee cups will be more convenient for you and the product will also be firmly set and durable. Therefore, begin with two cups first. Carefully place the two of them side by side, in such a way that the bases and the tops of each of them lie in equal level with each other. Now take a stapler and staple a pin at the bottom part of the two cups, where they connect with each other, preferably towards the rims of the coffee cups so that the aesthetic beauty of the lampshade is not hampered. To make the unit more firm, staple a pin on the upper rim of the connected portions of the two cups too, just above the staple you have just made. Now, bring in the third coffee cup and align it in the same manner as that of the already set ones so that their top and bottom levels are equal. Next, follow the previous step and staple the top and the bottom rims of the third coffee cup with that of the already joined cups.

2. Build your sphere now

As already discussed, divide the number of coffee cups you have collected in multiples of three. Now, follow the similar method discussed above and attach three coffee cups at a time to create smaller and firmer units. After this bring all these units together and staple them with each other neatly. Be patient and careful enough to place the bottom parts of the cups parallel to each other and you will see that the tapered tops of each of them automatically set equally with each other, giving a spherical shape to your yet to be made lampshade in the process.

3. Set the socket of the lamp

As your lampshade gets ready in the final stage, now you have to set the lamp inside the product. Thus, in order to do so you need to keep a coffee cup separate. Take the coffee cup and use a scriber to make a big hole at the bottom part of it. Once the hole is made, get hold of the big washer and insert it into the hole from inward. Now bring the electric wire and tie a knot at one of its end. Insert the knotted end into the hole of the single coffee cup, where the washer has been fixed, from outside. Now, connect it with split bolts through the smaller holes that you have have to make in the cup in the process. Tighten the fittings with washers to prevent slipping off. This attachment will help you to remove the lamp easily when you wish so. Staple the coffee cup with the already made lampshade.

4. Test the performance

At the final stage you must test the performance of your lampshade by connecting the electric wire with a plug and an electrical connection, to let the bulb glow. You can mount the lampshade on a stand or hang it from the ceiling too at this stage.

Frequently asked questions

1. Can I mount the coffee cup lampshade over conventional lamp stand?

Yes you can. But select the smaller coffee cups for the purpose as they will set well with the stand.

2. Can I use coffee cups of different shapes to make my lampshade?

No, as the dimension of the lampshade will be deteriorated and it will not mount well on any stand.

Quick tips

1. You can use gum instead of stapler to fix the coffee cups together.

2. You can color the base of the coffee cups in multicolor to make the lampshade colorful.

3. Wash and use used coffee cups if you wish to make a recycled product.

Things to watch out for

1. Try to use LED lamps for coffee cup lampshades as filament bulbs generate greater heat that can burn the lamp shade.

2. Never use plastic coffee cups with filament bulbs as chances of burning aggravates.

3. Always remember to staple the coffee cups at the rims of each of them. Otherwise the final lampshade will look bad.

4. Be very careful to coincide the top and bottom parts of the cups with each other equally or else the shape of the lampshade will not be uniform.

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