The Lampshade Lady Blog

lampshades

I've been busy listing new inventory.... it can be hard to keep up sometimes.Here's a sweet pair of grain sack drum shades that are 10"x10"x71/2" high. Etsy is where I sell most of my wares. I have found it is best to keep your listings above 100 items! It is believed that 100 is a vague tipping point to garner better S.E.O. aka "search engine optimization" although many other variables go into that algorithm such as customer happiness, how well you know how to write your titles and tags, if you have an about page ( I say about time) and recency. It's a complicated mix, but all in all Etsy is still a great place to sell. I've applied to Amazon Handmade and accepted but still reluctant to sign on board. The Lampshade section is kind of yucky and my policy is not to accept returns which Amazon allows them... as well as returns for CUSTOM work-  that's pretty idiotic isn't it. Can you imagine filling a custom order and the can return it??? nope, no, no.

This is the last of this amazing vintage black and white fabric. I bought this fabric back in 08 at Brimfield Flea Market. I stashed it away for a long time till I finally dug into it. It's cool as it fills a spot in my shop for the funky, contemporary shade. It measures 10"x10"x7.5" high

Guatemalan Vintage Fabric Drum Shade measuring 8" x 8" x 7.5" high. Pretty handsome drum shades for atmosphere not reading. We need lampshades for all different areas of our homes. Sometimes we need a shade like this to cover up a light bulb and give ambiance to a room. Lovely handwoven vintage fabric. $55. per shade. I have a pair at time of listing.

A pair of Periwinkle Vintage French Toile Hex Bell Lamp Shades. They measure 5" top x 10" bottom x7.5" high. Lovely I'd say as a fabric lover....I do make lampshades for the love of finding awesome pretty fabric. And I do think this is killer pretty fabric. Anyone can make lampshades... but to find the right fabrics is the skill. These are $85. per shade.

How sweet is this! Quilt cotton trimmed with a vintage ticking self trim. The lampshade measures 10" x 10" x 7.5" high. I was digging around one of my fabric bins for a certain fabric and found the last of this pretty cotton. Nice and bright for this time of year.

A 1950's fruit drum lampshade measuring 10" x 10" x 7.5" high. It's got 2 different vintage trims.  Fun pendant or kitchen lamp.
This was the gathering of drum shades "in the making". They are fun to make, go together fast and slow to trim or at least slow to find the right trims.

Today I headed out to my farmers market and then into town to start the holiday shopping. At first overwhelming and then fun. Finding the right gifts is an art; you hate to spend money on something someone doesn't want.... but think I got a good start. We love filling stockings with useful gourmet goodies, favorite pot scrubbers and yummy sriracha hot sauce and who knows what else... maybe socks!

Good luck with your shopping and don't forget to shop local....where ever you may be. And have fun, too.

xoxo,

judy

A Drum Lampshade Making Day! if you make one you might as well make a dozen!

I've been known to make a rose hip wreath or 2 a year. This year I made one for my shop! It's a bit of an ouchy job! Rose hips were huge this year out in the fields. I grabbed a plastic grocery bag and my clippers and started cutting away. I have learned it best to cut long stems. I don't cut off thorns until I make the wreath. I grabbed a few grape vines and wind them together for the base. Then start adding the hip stems cutting away the thorns as I go. Be prepared for a few jabs..... yikes. I had my glue gun ready but decided my stems were long enough to wind them into the grape vines.
Today my shop finally got an outside light! It was long over due and much procrastinated. I found this cool barn light on Ebay and at last my porch isn't so dark! And I painted my door a new color.

I've realized many of the colors I like are layered colors. So--- I mixed up some colors last week but they didn't quite work. Then I went down to my paint shop in Manchester and he suggested a glaze to mix with my new color. I gave it a try... hum, not quite right either. Then I remembered my paint marbling class I'd taken many years ago and that we had used this same glaze. We painted it on and rubbed it off. It worked great creating the layered colors I was wanting and looks nice with my new barn light!
Today I was inspired to make drum shades today. I don't make too many but when I do I make a bunch! They are fast to put together but then the trimming takes a bit a time. That will have to wait till the end of the week.

Detail of drum shade fabrics. A little bit of everything- grain sack fabric, quilt fabric, Guatemalan fabric, black and white vintage mod fabric and vintage fruit fabric. Drum shades definitely need the right fabric with a larger motif; a little print gets lost in the expanse of the shade.

Pretty, pretty periwinkle toile hex bell lampshades @75. I was so happy to find this amazing early French Toile. Just one of those to die for fabrics. Distinctive fabric---- standout beautiful! I've made a few other shades with this fabric and also have another pair of hex bells to come. The fabric is super old but good strong color.
I just listed a pair of crewel white on white hex bell lampshades on my Etsy lampshadelady shop. Hex bell 5"x10"x7.5" high. Nice thick crewel and so hard to find.
A fun experiment! I had this small scrap of crochet kicking around my desk; just enough for a night light. Love it. $24. shop only.
I just finished a large pair of lampshades from this crochet! Very awesome they were! And very time consuming to make. It's a light weight layer under the crochet and then the crochet needs to be glued on ..... but the end product was sensational. I think my client will be thrilled when she picks them up this week.... meanwhile I'm savoring them the next couple of days.

The last good news is that the little restaurant next to my shop has reopened. I'm super happy to welcome Amber and the crew @  The West Side Station. I know they worked their butts off to open last Friday! Congrats. I know the community will be happy to have a meeting place this winter and I am thrilled to have neighbors. It could have been a lone cold winter as our general store is still closed.

All for now,

xoxox

judy