Inspiration Friday ....Lampshade Xmas Tree Tutorial

As Promised earlier this week ...I'm here to share How to Make your own Lamp Shade Christmas Tree ...for those of you odd balls like Abbey and I that want "DIFFERENT" ...!

Here's the wonderful Lamp Shade Christmas Tree in all it's glory ...and we're sure there are so many other ways to create and decorate your own ..as Abbey and I have had endless ideas on how to make these trees ...in different ways and different styles ...but since there's just 2 of us ...it would be fabulous to see all you sweet blogland chickadees make your own and then share with us pictures of your own take and design.

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So Here's What you need.....

Obviously some old Wire Framed Lamp Shades ....(if the shades are still covered that's ok too)

A Base of some kind ....(let your imagination come up with something unique from your junk pile)

3/8 inch Threaded rod which can be found in the Electrical Dept of your local home improvement store. ( Ours only came in a 10ft. length and we wanted a 6 ft length ..so the guys at the store were kind enough to cut it down to our desired size)

3/8 inch Nuts (locking nuts would probably be preferrable)...you'll need 2 per lamp shade...

So these are the basics and of course you may need some other goodies once you get started depending on how unique you get with your design.

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So First of all Abbey and I ...had this great Cast Iron base in our antique hardware drawer ...It had been waiting around to be used on just the right project ...and well finally the right project presented itself ....

Next ...we gathered (6) of our wire lamp shades all in different sizes ...the bottom ones were similar in size and the top ones of course smaller.

Here's a close up of what "threaded rod" is and how the nuts spin above and below the lamp shade center ...

Please keep in mind the threaded Rod is somewhat Flimsy ...so your tree will be slightly flexible when working with it.

Keep In mind ...with the rod one length and 6 shades and 6 ft of rod ...it's a process that takes a bit of patience ...Because you have to start spinning those fun little nuts into place...

1 nut spun towards the center ..then apply the lampshade ..then another nut spun down to the top of it ...then another nut on and into place then the shade and another nut on top of it ..and so the fun process goes. ( I mentioned locking nuts because these are another type of nut that locks in place unlike the type we used for our project ..Abbey and I think after fashioning our first tree that the locking nuts would have been the way to go... sot that the shades are held in place better...)

Once you have all your lamp shades in place and your base on .........

It's time to start covering that ugly threaded rod !!!

We opted for 3 inch wide strips of burlap that were about 6 ft. in length ..

We Tied off the burlap at the top ...and then started twisting it around the base ...then when we ran short we just tied the ends of the burlap lengths together and kept twisting it around the rod..... the knots just gave the center a wonderful old knarly look ....Plus because we used regular nuts the burlap helped secure the lamp shades in place better.

P.S. Originally as shown above we put the top shade facing down ... we later changed our mind ..and took it off ..then ran wire every which way between the frame ..so we could turn it into a nest. Then we re-fitted it on top with the open end facing up ..we filled it in with spanish moss ...and then added some Glittered birds to the top ....as shown in the finished Picture at the top.

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So that's it Bloggerettes ...it's really a rather simple process mixed with a bit of patience ...!

Abbey and I have never seen such a tree made ..so we think we finally came up with a fabulous unique design of our own ...However ..who knows ..maybe some Grandma ..in some small town of 15 somewhere ..we just don't know about ..has been creating lampshade Christmas trees since the 1960's ...ROFL !!

It's a Great Altered, Upcycled and Rustic Vintage Christmas Tree ...Perfect decorated in any color ..or any style ..and Oh my what a conversation piece for the holidays ..it's for all those relatives that just don't get us Vintage Junkies ...LOL !!!