Altered Lamp

This is the brass lamp I bought in the late seventies, early eighties. It was quite expensive back then. I know I bought it on sale. It fit with my wrap around wall unit and brown plaid couch. It had a beautiful different shaped silk shade the deteriorated over the years. It got knocked and there was a small rip in it! This is the best before photo I could find!

Here you can see I gessoed it, but you can still see the palm trees peeking through!

I first altered this lamp a year ago July when the family room and kitchen were freshly painted. Truthfully I despised it. Too Aztec looking for me, not my style. I used sparkling H2O paints so it's sparkly but just bugged me every time I looked at it!
That's the joy of being artistic...you can always change it up! I didn't like the old brass pattern of palm trees that showed through it either!

These treasures were dirt cheap at a closing out sale,. Unfortunately my original plan of incorporating the hearts didn't pan out, they were just too heavy! I'll save them for another project! The other plastic jewels worked well!

This is the air drying molding clay I used.First I rolled it out with a rolling pin, then molded it around the lamp. That was quite a feat when it became loose. I needed a second package just to get around all of it! Thankfully it shrinks and hardens when it drys.

I covered it with three packages of clay. Two the first day, where I molded around the jewels, then a third one I used as a filler the next day. It completely tightened around the lamp and jewels. The first clay I paid almost ten dollars for. The second two Pepper got at the flea market for one dollar each. The universe does provide I tell ya!

After that I painted it with acrylic paints. After it had dried for over a day I modge podged it to seal everything. I may also varnish it as an extra coating!

The lamp is actually darker, I lightened the photo too much.
I was using the inferior camera.The finished product is more true to life!
I changed the shade because I needed it for the my grandfathers antique lamp in my living room.The family room fireplace wall is painted black so it pulls it altogether.
Click on this photo to enlarge and get a more accurate view.
Here is the finished product and I love it. It's not for everyone, but it's whimsically me!