Description
Once upon a time, my wife had a beautiful tulip-shaped light shade made from frosted white glass. Sadly it has been lost to time, but it's been a long-standing goal of mine to replace it for her. Ponoko has made that possible, and she liked it so much, I thought I'd see if anyone else would like one too...
This item consists of a tulip-shaped light shade for a hanging light fitting. The 'blades' of the shade are subtly patterned with stars, distributed to suggest the patterning inside a real tulip. I would recommend using this item with a CF bulb only (incandescent bulbs are likely to give off too much heat).
This item is designed to work with a standard Bayonet light fitting (BC22), as used in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Ireland, France and the Middle East. I can supply this design to work with most other 'normal' light fittings (e.g. E26 (MES) in North America or E27 (ES) in Europe), at no extra cost, if you can supply me the outer diameter of your light fitting (e.g. a BC22 bulb has a Ø22mm base that works with a fitting that has an outer diameter of 28mm). Please note that this shade will not fit onto a light fitting that sits flush with the ceiling (it needs at least a short length of cable to hang from).
Once assembled, this item is 260mm [10.2"] high and 250mm [9.8"] in diameter. This item can be cut, at no extra cost, from any of the 3mm [1/8"] -thick acrylic plastics available from Ponoko (for options, please see below). The default colour is transparent frosted white.
This item comes as a flat-pack kit that can be assembled without any tools in about five minutes. A variation on this theme can be seen in the more organic Tulip Flick design.
After you submit your order, I'll ask you which coloured acrylic you want to use.
Please see below for Customisation/Personalisation Options.
Please feel free to before you buy if you have any questions. Buy now from my Ponoko Showroom »
Product Options
- Acrylic: Transparent: Frosted White (US$100.00)
Please see below for Customisation/Personalisation Options.
Please feel free to before you buy if you have any questions. Buy now from my Ponoko Showroom »
Assembly Instructions
The kit for this item contains four (4) base rings, each of differing size, and twelve (12) 'blades'. Each blade has either 1, 3 or 5 stars on it. The kit contains six (6) 3-star blades; three (3) 1-star blades; and three (3) 5-star blades. All components are shipped with a protective plastic film on both sides - please remove this film from all components before you begin assembly.
Two of the base rings (the deeply-slotted ones) look very similar. They differ by how tight the slots are. Due to variations in the tolerances of plastic produced around the world, you will need to use the ring that gives the best fit (snug, but not so tight as to require force to engage). The other ring is not used and will be left over at the end of assembly.
- To begin assembly, stack the blades in the following order (by number of stars): 3, 5, 3, 1, 3, 5, 3, 1, 3, 5, 3, 1.
- Pick up the topmost blade from the stack and place the largest of the base rings over the narrow, slotted neck (see image 3).
- Engage the deeply-slotted base ring with the deep slot near the top of the blade. This pair of slots should engage snugly, but a little bit of looseness is OK. In theory, this pair of slots could be too tight to fully engage (this has never happened to me, but material tolerances mean that it is possible) - if so, use some very fine sandpaper on the slots on the ring only (see image 3).
- Pick up the next blade and place the neck in through the large ring and onto the deeply-slotted ring using the slot immediately adjacent to the first one you used. It doesn't matter if you work in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction around the deeply-slotted ring, as long as you go in the same direction for all blades in sequence (see image 4).
- Once you get half of the blades in, you'll notice that things start to get firmer to work with. The large, outside ring should engage with a shallow slot on the outside of the light shade neck. Continue fitting the blades in order. You will have to tilt the bottom of each incoming blade between those opposite to get it inside the large ring and then into its slot (see image 4).
- Once all blades are in place, invert the shade and stand it on a firm surface. The smallest base ring goes inside the shade to lock everything together. Each of the shallow slots in the ring needs to line up with a blade. Once aligned, press down very firmly until the ring clicks home into the shallow indent in each blade. Ensure that this ring engages with all 12 blade indents (see image 5).
- Check that the blades are evenly spaced around the shade (adjust, if necessary). The hole in the smallest base ring is where your light fitting screws through (see image 6).
Note: Please don't apply excessive force to anything that feels too tight - each joint should be snug, but should not require excessive force to make. However, if you do break something (pretty hard to do - acrylic is very strong), I will be able to supply replacement parts without you needing to buy a whole new kit.
A Short 'How To Assemble...' Video
Usage Instructions
Install as for any light shade. The light socket base slots through the smallest base ring. The light socket ring is then screwed on.Customisation/Personalisation Options
Use the following form to customise/personalise this item and request a quote. In most cases, changing the colour will not change the price. Changing other attributes is likely to affect the price. In general, making things smaller/thinner/simpler will reduce the price. Making things larger/thicker/more complex is likely to increase the price.
If the options below are too restrictive for you what you've got in mind and I'll see what I can come up with (it's one major advantage of going with a laser-cut solution!)