I had some time in my shop and picked up a thin piece of cedar that was an offcut from making picture frames. I thought about how cool it would look as a super thin desk lamp. I had a piece of quartz crystal to use as a counter weight, a brass tube, a short strip of 12v LED lights, a small block of cherry from the scrap bin, a few pieces of connections materials, and voila the Slim-Line Lamp.
This is what happens when I get distracted and have a few pieces of scrap in hand.
The lamp looks cool, works very well over my desk, and its fragile making shiiing a big problem, so it won’t be making the gallery of items. It may make the trip to an in person show, if I ever get to addend one.
A week if shelter in place has let me spend a lot of time in the studio. I have been able to finish several paintings, make more frames and build a few lamps. I like spending the time working on new projects and some worked and didn’t, the ones the need work (failures) are on a shelf waiting for inspiration.
The featured piece on the blog is a painting that will not go on the market right away. It’s a unique frame and painting and was an experimental piece. I can see it being a future series, when I can find the right materials.
I finished several paintings a few are in the gallery below.
Kinsley
Jeremiah
Colton
Easton
Cameron
Madelyn
Angel
Robert
Nicholas
My new paintings included one of our previous dog Jill, a wire fox terrier. This one will not be for sale, my wife has already claimed it.
My wife the dog and I spent time on the local beach scavenging for driftwood and stones for my lamps. Niko was in and out of the lake swimming several times, I know its mid March but she is a lab and her tail wagged the whole time. The driftwood will have to be dried before i can work with it.
I pawed through several pieces of driftwood from my storage bin and came up with a few pieces that inspired me. These lamps are a little shorter at 22″ with shade, than my prior version and I am waiting on new sockets to finish them off, I use a dimmable socket and didn’t have any to finish the lamps.
I decided, with the shelter in place mandate, to order them and not go out to the local hardware store. Once I complete them they will go up for sale.
The cloud with the crystal rain drops is a whimsical night light. Just another tangent of art without boundaries, going where ever my thoughts take me.
By using Swarovski crystals it sparkles and shows rainbow effects on the wall. The cloud lamp is made to use the 5v led strip lights so that it is powered by a USB charger, like the ones use to charge phones.
This is a new take on my original umbrella light. How did this all start, I was playing with a strip of LED lights that I used in my tall wood strip lamp and had a jar of tiny crystals on my workspace, I saw the sparkle and thought of slashes in water. Pick a few crystals and add a little wire and raindrops. a little wide and raindrops.
I will sell the lamps soon on my site.
I have included several build pictures if you want to try building it yourself. LEDs were purchased from amazon. Crystals were ones I got from a clearance sale at Swarovski Lighting when I worked there. I used separate pieces of 1/4” plywood to make assembly easier. The switch and 5.5mm plug were also purchased at Amazon. I made sure the base would be heavy enough to avoid tipping and thick enough to allow installing the plug and switch. Paint with enamel paint and a quick spray of blue paint. I then added the crystals with a dab of hot glue.
Let me know if you have questions about the build.
Another week of free time in the studio. I was able to get to a location that had internet access where I could start to upload more images for the web site. I have major problems with internet access at my home, no cable and no DSL that works. Now my wireless hub is acting up.
I promised lamps in an earlier post so I have finally been able to get some photos and upload them to the site. I completed 4 lamps so far and have a couple of others on the workbench. I enjoy the beech feal with stones and driftwood of our shoreline.
You can find the rest of my lamps in my gallery under furniture.
I have put in applications for a couple of art fairs and if I am accepted I will add them to a calendar of events. I am also working on a newsletter that will celebrate all the art items I had produced for the month.