Eat.Pray.Love.Collage

Over the weekend someone I know purchased this lovely lamp at a thrift shop and presented it to me as a gift.  I absolutely love it.  It’s solid brass, a bit vintage and full of character.  One has to wonder why this lady is reading nude, but hey, I’m not one to judge-I love it all the same.  The lamp didn’t come with a shade so I was in search of one while hitting the Goodwill on Saturday.  I found one I thought would work so I grabbed it and took it home with me.  It turns out it fits great!

When I’m at Goodwill I always pour over the books because there’s never a time when I go that I don’t find a treasure.  The Goodwill’s in my area have  great book selections.  On Saturday I found two copies of one of my favorite books,  Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat. Pray.Love.   I already have a few copies I keep on hand to pass along to friends, so I just grabbed these two extras to add to my lending/gifting library.  After getting home I started to think about what a fun project it would be to give this lamp some character with a collage of  book pages on the shade.  This brass babe is going to be my reading lamp, so why not embellish her with the pages of one of my favorites.

I wanted to share with you the very simple process in case you’d like to make one for yourself or for a friend.  A Literary Shade can be whipped up in a few hours and would make a great Christmas gift for the book lover in your life.

Okay, here goes:

Your going to need the following items:

-A lamp shade that fits your lamp of choice (thrift for one if you can-it’s a great way to recycle  items. Besides,  new ones can be very pricey.)

-A used copy of your favorite book

-Matte Medium gel or Modge Podge

-Gloss Sealer

-Sponge brush or 1″ wide paint brush

-Beading or fringe for a vintage boudoir look

-Something to protect your work area.

The items you need for collage.

Rip the pages randomly and arrange them askew, being sure to overlap them. If there’s some parts of the book you really love be sure to rip them out and make them visible on your shade.

By brass beauty. So deserving of a literary collage shade. 🙂

Finished and unlit.

This is how the shade looks lit. Notice how it takes on interesting patterns from the collage process. Take this into account when you are planning where your pieces will go. I usually don’t think too much about placement unless I’m trying to fill an area or make something show.

Accent your lampshade with  some beautiful fringe or beading if you think it will complete the look.  I’m thinking I might add some fringe to this one.  Looks like I’m off to JoAnn’s Fabric for just the perfect touch.

Have fun and get creative with this.  Instead of the pages of a novel, you can use pieces from a French book or a vintage mathematics book with formulas in it for your favorite intellectual.  The ideas are endless.  Enjoy!