Repurposed Glass Lamp Shades

It's that time again for our "Do It Over Designers" Blog Hop - the last one for this year! The "Do It Over Designers" is a group of creative bloggers who love to recycle/upcycle/ DIY, hosted by  Anne @The Apple Street Cottage.               It happens the 4th Saturday of every other month and it's all about taking something old and/or unused and 'doing it over' into something new. Thanks Anne for hosting this wonderful blog hop!

Have you ever looked at an item and said to yourself, "that looks like a . . . . . ."  Well that happened to me at the thrift store. A few weeks ago I stopped by the Goodwill to look for something to repurpose. The place was busy! Lots of people looking and buying! I had never seen it that crowded. Anyway, I was going down each aisle trying to find something - but nothing was jumping out at me. I was about to leave and looked at the very last shelf in the area and saw a box with plastic wrap sticking up. I thought it unusual for items to be in a box so I pushed the wrapping aside and lo and behold there were four glass lamp shades inside. I picked one up and said to myself, "this looks like a bell!" Ding, ding, ding! I found my repurpose item. Two dollars each or four for eight dollars. I bought all four. I know that seems expensive but everything is expensive these days - even at the thrift store! Once home, I went online to see what Goodwill's online store carried. They had two glass lampshades for $14.99! So I felt pretty good about shelling out eight dollars for mine! 

Now on to my project - how to repurpose glass lamp shades into hanging bells!

Materials:

• Glass Lamp Shades (3)
• Plastic Candleholders (6 small)
• Hot Knife (for cutting plastic)
• Quick Hold  Glue
• Decorative glass crystals (3)
• Clear decorative cording
• Parchment paper
• Clamps
• Ribbon
• Greenery

How To:

Begin by placing clean glass lamp shades on your work surface!

I needed something to close up the openings of the lamp shades! Looking around in my stash, I found plastic candleholders from another 'Do It Over' project that fit perfectly upside down in the opening! 

So I added Quick Hold glue around the top opening of the lamp shade and .  .  .

placed the upside down candleholder down in the opening to dry in place.

Next, I also found in my stash glass crystals with a hole in the top, similar to the one pictured, to make the bell clappers! If you didn't know - the clapper is the part of the bell that hangs down to "bang" against the sides. 

I thought I would use clear stretchy cording to tie the clapper on and run it up through the opening of the shade but found it very difficult to secure the tied knots together. So I pulled out a roll of decorative cording that had small clear balls attached which was much easier to use and also looked prettier, too!

To attach the crystals - first, determine how long you want the length of the cords hanging through the shade. Double the amount and cut off the excess. Twist the folded cording together lengthwise and insert the end of one cord through the opening of the crystal, meeting the end of the other cord. Tie the ends together in two to three knots as tight as you can. Holding the knots together, grab a small piece of parchment paper and place under the knots. Apply Quick Hold glue to the knots and wrap the parchment paper over the glued knots. Clamp together the parchment paper with the knots, holding in place until dry.

Once the cording knots around the crystal clapper is dry, run the cords through the opening of the lamp up through the body of the bell to the dome and crown - from the bottom to the top, adjusting how low or high to hang the crystal clappers.

To make the crown (the top portion), using a hot iron, cut the bottom flair off of a plastic candleholder.

Add Quick Hold glue around the brim and .  .  .

attach to the top opening of the bell.

Add books on top to secure until dry.

I'm loving how this lamp shade bell looks! And if you shake it sideways, it will truly ring loud!

Arrange the bells in a staggered look grouped together on greenery or hang separately as a focal point in your decor! So many options!

And finally, add a decorative bow and tails for a gorgeous holiday look!

Be sure to visit all of this month's creative projects by the  "Do It Over Designers"  listed below:

Little Vintage Cottage

Modern on Monticello

Purple Hues & Me

Sum of Their Stories

Tea and Forget-Me-Nots

Color Me Thrifty

Vintage Style Gal

The Apple Street Cottage

Birdz of a Feather

Exquisitely Unremarkable