For a long time now, I've been very inspired by the idea of a black lamp with metal spikes.
My 'home decor' board on pinterest has, for a while, been home to both this image of a piece by artist Rebecca Johnson from Bughouse and this piece by Andrea Maestri. Unfortunately though, lamps like this are pieces of art rather than house products so, as a result, are either not for sale or waaaay out of my price range.
For that reason, I had a go at making a spiky lamp myself, diy-style. Hopefully it's different enough from any existing pieces so as not to be copying them (I've not seen any others with a plain black shade and spikes on a matte black base yet. Besides, I'm not selling it - it's just for me!).
The finished lamp
I used an old yellow second-hand lamp. First I scrubbed it to death with some sandpaper (very important), wrapped masking tape over the bulb and cord and then painted it outside with a matte black spray-paint. I ordered the spikes online from a shop on ebay. I think they're meant for decorating mobile phones, haha.
Then I set up a ridiculous contraption to keep the lamp horizontal while I glues the spikes on, abandoned that when it didn't work and drove myself half mad trying to hold it like a club and stick them on without the glue slipping off before it dried. Yay.
I guess it worked though: here's the finished cactusy looking lamp. There are a few faults and you can see some of the scuff marks where I sanded it, but I think it came out ok.
And here it is with the light plugged in and switched. The shade's a bit thin and cheap so I'll probably get a better one to replace it, but it'll do for now.
