Lighting Project that will Warm up your Living Room Design

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Issue 43

The Small Spaces Issue

Buy Your First Home
Southern BBQ, City Style
A-Frame House
Bikes of Portland

Twig Lamp

Hit the forest floor for twigs, stumps, and branches fit for your living room.

by Christine Pyers

Save an armful of kindling from a fiery demise by transforming it into a table lamp. Sure, it won’t provide any heat, but its glow is guaranteed to warm up your walls.

Measure and cut a 1” slice off the bottom of the wood with a saw, creating 2 pieces of wood: 4 1/2” x 4 1/2” x 1” and 4 1/2” x 4 1/2” x 1 3/4”. Set the smaller piece aside.
With the bigger piece cut-side up, use a 1 1/4” drill bit to make a hole in the center of the wood approximately 7/8” deep.
In the center of that hole, drill another hole 3/4” in diameter all the way through the block.
Turn the wood on its side. Using a pencil, mark a spot for the push-button switch and make a through-hole to the center of the wood using a 3/8” drill bit.
On the opposite side of the hole you just drilled, use the 1/4” drill bit to make a through-hole to the center for the cord. Set aside.
Take the end of the lamp cord and pull the two wires apart about 3” down the cord. Strip the wires about 1” down from the ends.
Thread the lamp cord through the 1/4” hole in the wood and wrap the end of the white wire around one of the loosened screws on the candelabra socket. Tighten the screw to secure the wire.
You’ll see that the push button switch has two wires coming out of its back. Put the switch in position in the wood and attach one of the wires to the other half of the lamp cord wire with a wire nut.
Attach the switch’s second wire to the other screw on the socket.
Push the wired socket into the holes you’ve made in the wood base. At the other end of the cord, snap on the quick-clamp plug.
On the top of the 1” slice of wood, pre-drill 4 holes 1/2” in from the corners. In the same places on the bottom of the larger wood base, pre-drill 4 holes. Use the 1” wood screws to conjoin the two pieces of the base.
On the top of the base, drill holes around the perimeter in a variety of sizes slightly larger than the diameter of the twigs you have gathered.
Experiment by arranging the twigs in the holes until you’re happy with how they look. Use the 5-minute epoxy to secure them in the holes.
Wearing rubber gloves, mix chunks of the Plumber’s epoxy putty together to activate the hardener and apply to the bases of the twigs. This will anchor them and hide any traces of holes that were too big. Let dry.
Paint the putty with a base coat of rust paint. Let dry.
Apply the rusting paint. You may need multiple layers to achieve the best effect.
Put felt dots on the bottom and screw in a bulb.
Light up your mini tree!