How it´s made... The lamps with dried flowers from Coscoja Workshop

Craft lamps made with dried flowers and plants.

The first is gathering, pressing and drying of leaves and flowers. All plants, leaves and flowers that we used for decorating the lampshades are picked from the field and gardens and then They are pressed and dried with a homemade press, by hand, between a bunch of newspapers. This process is labor intensive because to preserve their color is very important to frequently change the newspapers to dry them, because the moisture damage them and we have to discard them. Not all plants and flowers are suitable for the job, you have to keep trying and selecting species that retain the color and they are well crushed. You need to look up this part of the process, because if we use low-quality plants or improperly dried we risk to miss our final work.

Then we proceed with the design of the lampshades. We have to draw the template deployed in plane geometric figure. This will shape the lamp, then when we will coil it. The cylindrical shapes are easy because they are a rectangle deployed. Its base is the perimeter of the circle and his height, the height of our lampshade. The conicas lampshades are more complicated. We must to use the formulas geometry of the truncated cone development.

We have templates that we have prepared taking into account the upper and lower diameters of the lamp we want to do and its height.

Now we proceed to the design of the frame for lampshades. The metal frame that holds the lamp, must be designed to perform its function. Is very important to calculate the distances at which the bulb will be from the parchment, as too much proximity may cause a deterioration of the lamp by the heat from the bulb when lit. With a simple upper ring and a lower  support for the lamp-holder you have enough. The brackets for the bushings may be of two types, the E-27 or E-14 is thinner. The frames can be made by any artisan workshop that work on the development of frameworks for lamps. This we would be complicated for us because it requires specialized machinery for metal processing and welding.

The new models of our craft lamps must be tested to determine their resistance to heat of bulbs. To do it you must to keep it switching-on, for three or four days continuously, trying different powers of light bulbs, to determine the maximum that support without deteriorating.

You also have to design the bases. They aren´t the main attraction in our lamps, as the protagonists are the handmade lampshades, so a simple wooden cone or pyramid fulfill its function well.

To do the lampshades. I drawing on parchment, with the template I designed, and I cut out. Then I select the flowers and / or leaves that I will be used for decoration and I glue this looking an attractive design placement. After, with rice paper I cover the plants, so that they are placed between two layers, and thus they are protected. Rice paper is so thin, so it allows some transparency, so that plants are not hidden at all and they are seen when the lamp is turned on. To facilitate cleaning the dust, I apply a layer of waterproof varnish on rice paper.

Once dry I glue it in its metal frame, to give the final form.

We can now assemble all electrical accessories, cables, lamp-holder, plugs, ...  and them we can join lampshades and bases. We must label with the maximum allowed power and we pack the lamps in cardboard boxes.

I have models of bedside lamps, table, floor, ceiling, wall and sizes especially for low shelves. With innovative designs and other more classic:  conicals, cylindricals, square, pyramides, hexagons and ovals.

In Workshop Coscoja you can find all the contact details of my craft shop or get into my Facebook.