Second Hand Sconce

Found this sconce at a thrift store the other day. It has a distressed antique bronze finish. The lamp shade on the other hand, was too simple and plain. I could have bought a new shade, but would have spent the same or more than I did for the fixture itself ($5). So I had some leftover scrapbook paper and decided to just work with what I had. It turned out nice, but unfortunately some of the paper was too thick and just leaves a silhouette rather than showing through when the light is on. Note to self, Only use very thin paper for lamp shades.

I took photos of every side so you can see the whole design. The first layer is actually a very delicate handmade paper with a pattern the looks like writing printed on it. The light shows through it fine and the details show up great. The only issue I had with it was that the decoupage glue tended to turn it yellow in places, which was ok because it gave it an aged look than went with the rest of it.

The other parts are a standard thickness scrapbook paper that is pretty much too thick for this application. It works fine for most surfaces, but is no good for use on shades or anything that has light showing through it, like a window, unless you specifically want to do silhouettes.

All in all, it turned it nice and only took about an hour and a half to complete.