Gary's Third Pottery Blog

When the going gets tough, dragons gonna get going....

Gary's third pottery blog

WRITE TO ME! garyrith@yahoo.com Come see me! Open studio HERE! November 25-26 (11-4 each day); Aurora Art and Design, daily until 12/24; Cooperstown Art Assoc. daily until 12/24; Ellis Hollow Community Fair, 12/10; December 10, Little Red Wagon at the Space at Greenstar. All material on this blog unless stated otherwise is copyright Gary Edward Rith 2016

Thursday, January 21, 2016

how to make a lamp from SCRATCH




I make a pottery lamp once every, oh, 10-20 years or so….really! I just have to dig through a box and find the parts….

Wednesday was a magical day.  I had a glaze firing turn out SO perfectly, I mades tostadas from scratch (masa harina tortillas baked then topped and baked again, little crisp Mexican pizzas) and fixed the sink (YES, the fourth or fifth or 11th time in ten years, but who is counting?) AND I made this lamp.  I made the lamp body about 2 years ago….pottery is not bananas, so it is not like it was going bad, but that is what January is for:  DO THOSE little odds and ends, right?

SO, I dug out the box of electrical parts and got cracking….last time I made lamps was around 1997, no kidding….and this was so much fun I WANT TO MAKE MANY more :)

There is a hole in the base, I thread a long electric cord with plug up through with several inches extra.
Then you push a long metal rod with a threaded hole in the middle down the cord and into the pot.  Then you need to push the threaded post down the cord into the pot, screw it to the rod in there, and then screw all that to the socket on top, and tighten all of it. Then the connection.  Not as hard as it sounds :)

5 comments:

cookingwithgas said...

Is the bottom open or closed?

smartcat said...

Great explanation! And a pretty cool lamp too!

Claudia from Idiot's Kitchen said...

I love making lamps. For a while I was selling lamps made out of old music instruments - mostly flutes and clarinets - at art fairs. Then I realized that I wasn't making any money so I stopped. I love the shape of your lamp. Hope you make more. Maybe some with the flower stamp I like so much????? :)

Michèle Hastings said...

Beautiful lamp! I have only made one, ever. Jeff's the lamp guy here.

smalltownme said...

Looks good!

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I am a full-time studio potter, sculptor, and dog walker, married to superhawt Missus Tastycake.