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This started when my wife bought this copper lam shade at the Gem show in Tucson two years ago. I was to make a fitting lamp for it and I had to wait until I could cut a big tapered round piece off a mesquite log. Well I was given that log last winter and brought home this piece of green mesquite. I dried it in the microwave for a day and had a few cracks but then it was dry.

I turned off the natural edge because I wanted it to be symmetrical. I also wanted to experiment with a few things so I put in a touch control that is triggered by the little brass button in the front and I also wired the trigger to the harp so you can touch the shade and trigger the 3 levels of light with that.

I wanted to experiment with glow-in- the- dark powder in epoxy resin ,so this lamp has a small pool of blue resin just below the shade that glows when the light is turned off ( last shot).

For a finishing touch, I made a mesquite knob for the top of the shade and I found out that a lamp harp does not have a standard thread…it is 1/4" -27 so I had to buy that special tap to thread the hole in the knob.

It is one piece of mesquite 6 1/2" x 10" x 18" High and finished with satin Polyurethane.

I added some process shots below:

cheers, Jim
Starting it on the lathe




Milling the pocket in the bottom for the touch control box


Gallery

Comments

· In Loving Memory
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Turned out real nice Jim, should get some browny points for it. Cheers.
 

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nice one jim goes very well with the shade.
 

· Premium Member
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That's really quite the undertaking with a great outcome. Some nice touches with the modern switching and touch feature.
 

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Nice lamp, Jim. I lie the way you shaped the base to match the shade.
 

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Jim I'll start off by saying the shade is a great Southwestern theme. Nice touch with the touch button and for changing the light levels. All around a beautiful lamp.
I have the same idea of some glow in the dark epoxy but for a table coming up.
 

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Your wife picked out a real nice lamp shade Jim. I can see why you did a good job on the base. We have a lamp with the 3 level touch switch. Each time we have a power bump it turns the light on or one notch brighter. The grandchildren love it!
 

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Very FLASH Jim.
Great job.

Bob
 

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Definitely a unique lamp Jim… beautiful work sir!!
 

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WOW!!! That is a BEAUTY Jim…every picture is GREAT….But I particularly like Picture 4.

Good progress shots too. Well done!!!

Cliff.
 

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Splendid!

I wondered how that glow in the dark epoxy would work. Looks pretty cool.

A vertical mill sure comes in handy.
 

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Nicely done Jim. The base matches the shade beautifully.
 

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What? A SW style lamp created while away from your SW digs?

Either way, nice one Jim!

The glowing fill is a cool accent and of course your lathe work is top notch as usual, though that initial spin up looks nice and scary 8^)

Did you do the heat coloring on the shade?
 

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Again, your wife and you made miracle! Very nice lamp!
 

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Beautiful turning! Happy wife = happy life. Well done!
 

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Thank you all for all the nice comments. This was fun to design kind of backwards to fit the shade!

Hi Dave. I had just heard about the glow in the dark powder this spring and bought some. If you get it use plenty of it. The package had no mixing ratios so my first test with it was a flop. I used way too little. I used a bunch for this lamp and it worked fine. I looked but cannot find the ratio I used but it was by weight. A You tube video says 7 grams of powder per ounce of resin. My powder is just white. The blue is from 2 drops of resin colorant.

Hi John we have a few touch control lams in the house now and when there is a lightning strike it will turn on one or all of the lamps. So for this one, I used a socket with a switch on it so we can just switch it off if we will be gone for the winter.

Hi Lew, I deleted the shots of making the tapered base on my slab flattening jig. That was the reason I made the high rails on it for cutting this lamp base. It was clamped down like I did in the vertical mill only on the sides..

Hi Bruce.We bought the shade finished just like that from a company called Mesquite and Copper who also sell complete lamps in this style. I believe they do heat them to get the copper to change color and then they lacquer them.

cheers, Jim
 

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Very Nice Jim, love it!
 

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Thanks, Mike.

Cheers, Jim
 

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Hi Jim. Does this ratio of pigment to epoxy sound familiar to you. 1 part pigment to 4 parts of the epoxy by weight. I wrote this down a few months ago watching it on u-tube so I could remember. It seems like a lot of pigment but I don't want it to fail either.
 

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Hi Dave, that is almost right on for the glow in the dark powder. 7 grams =.246 oz . so 1/4 to 1 or 1:4
If the powder is colored, that is all you need. If the power is white or colorless, then you need the drops of colorant like I used
cheers, Jim
 
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