My Gnome Little World

Are you a Mid Century Lamp Lover?

How about those beloved fiberglass shades? To Die For.

But what about the broken damaged fit for the dump ones?

We must save them.

I’m not a professional lamp shade maker or refinisher or whatever you call people who fix lamp shades.

So those of you who are…move on.

This is Mid Century Fiberglass Lamp Shape Fixing 101.

Also there are different reasons to need to fix. The wire is broken, the strings are broken or the shade is broken. In all of these situations you need Step 1.

Step 1:

Get Gloves and Put Them On. Fiberglass is not a friend to your skin.

Step:

Take Shade Apart. Which is easy. This situation is a broken shade..mostly around string/wire/hole area so I just took shade apart. If not untie knots and unlace.

*Use gloves…seriously.

Step 3:

Broken Shade: I cut my shade at the top and bottom where it was damaged.

*If the the wire is broken fix with wire or soldering iron. If shade is completely broken use different material…mostly likely a light plastic for stiffness. If the string is damaged get new string. Mine was and decided to use what I had.

Step 4:

Punch Holes in Shade for Re-Lacing. Since this was a spur of the moment fix, again I went with what I had, a regular hole punch. I would go with a smaller hole option if i wasn’t impatient.

Step 5: Picking String.

I’m a string/twine addict so I had some to choose from. Twine was eliminated first. So I tried these two below. Again I went with what I had because of my excitement of fixing the shade! I probably would have went with a dark leather or synthetic leather if I wasn’t a “get it done now” freak. The dark string in back is the original.

* I like color of the waxed string but felt like it could cut the fiberglass too easy. So I went with the soft, so wrong color, cotton thicker string.

Step 6:

Lace back Up. Slow and steady to make sure “lace’ lays evenly.

*Since I cut my shade from top and bottom, the wire rings did not fit perfectly anymore, but I still pushed forward.

Finished the top and stopped to check my handiwork.

Not bad, eh?

Then I finished with the bottom.

Viola! Saved from the Fiberglass Lamp Shade Graveyard! Not perfect, but still looking pretty!

*If you noticed that my laces are going in two different ways…Damn you and your eye for detail!

No, I noticed I was doing that right away and checked my other lamps. The lacing goes in the same direction on them. But I decided to see what the opposite direction would look like.

**There you have it. In the photo my shade looks a bit crumpled. It is not.

I may go back with different string…but for now there she stays in my foyer.

*And yes, if looks uneven. It may be the way I cut it, or how it’s sitting on the lamp because we all know those shades never sit straight.

Thanks for visiting.

Feel free to ask questions!