Showing posts with label wood veneer edging craft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wood veneer edging craft. Show all posts

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Lotus Flower Style Veneer Lamp

     , ,  22 comments

                                                                            

Hello and Welcome to the 'Do It Over' Designers Blog Hop!!  In case you haven't heard, 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. Once in a while, Anne will choose a theme for us to do over. This month it's Lighting! Thanks Anne for hosting this wonderful blog hop!

 

Wood veneer edge banding is usually used as an edge wood trim to cover exposed edges of furniture, cabinet doors, drawer fronts, shelves, etc. But the fun part for this 'Do It Over' project is using a very unconventional color style of the wood veneer edge band strips - one with a rainbow color painting on the band instead of the usual wood tones.  So for this month's 'Do Over' I'm going to shape the colorful wood veneer strips into a lotus flower style and add a light source in the middle for the lamp! Sounds cool doesn't it? I'm really excited about making the edging into a light source instead of using it to cover furniture edges! 

So let's get started!

Supplies:
Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! Plus Google Adsense provides a platform for me to monetize my content by hosting ads from Google's network of advertisers. The money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

                                                                     

How To:

There are two parts to my lotus flower style veneer lamp - a small flower with 6 1/2" long veneer strips and a larger flower with 8 1/2" strips. Both sizes will be using a wood circle disc about four inches in diameter for the center. 
First, to help keep the veneer strips placement as even as possible,  using a ruler and pencil, divide the wood circle into four sections.  Starting at the 12 o'clock position, draw a line down to the 6 o'clock position. Then draw another line from the 9 o'clock position over to the 3 o'clock position. 

Next, cut out sixteen, 8 1/2" long strips of colorful wood veneer. There is a right side that shows the colorful wood design. And a wrong side which is rough and actually has glue embedded on it.

After cutting out the sixteen strips, using a ruler and pencil, measure 1/2" from the end of each strip and draw a line. Then turn the strip over to the wrong side and on the opposite end draw another line at the 1/2" mark. 

Begin gluing on each strip using the lines on the wood circle and the right side line on each strip as a placement guide on the .  .  .


12 to 6, and the 9 to 3 lines.

and then, glue on three strips in between each one the same way.

Continue gluing on the strips, matching the lines of the strips to the circle edge. 
Once all the strips are glued on, turn the wood disc over and .  .  .
take a strip in one hand and count three strips over and glue that strip together on the end with the strip in your hand. This will be your first "petal".
                                                                                

From the left strip that has been glued together, take the strip to the right of it and glue this strip together with the third strip on the left.

Continue gluing the strips together on the left - from the glued together left strip, take the strip to the right of it and glue this strip together with the third strip on the left. Continue going around the disc until all the strips are glued together as petals forming a lotus flower shape.


The petals are arranged in a symmetrical, overlapping pattern, creating a full, elegant lotus flower style.


The wood circle disc needs to be covered with strips of veneer to enhance the total look! *In hindsight, I should have covered the opposite side of the round disc with veneer strips before gluing on the sixteen strips. It would have been easier to trim and so much neater, too.


Once the strips are glued onto the wood circle, cut off the excess strips around the wood circle edge .  .  .


 The wood circle disc looks so much better covered in veneer!


For the smaller flower, veneer strips were glued on first to the wood disc (not shown) and then the excess overhang was cut off following the circle edge.
                           


 Then the 6 1/2" veneer strips were glued on, like before, and shaped into a lotus flower.

The two finished lotus flowers - side by side: 

Add glue to the disc in the center of the larger lotus flower, and then placing the smaller lotus flower inside the larger flower -  making sure to stagger the petals between the larger and smaller flower.

And finally, place the LED light in the center and .  .  .

enjoy the different lighting colors using the remote .  .  .


to set your decorative mood!



I hope you enjoyed my "Do Over" veneer strips lighting project! 

Before you leave, don't forget this is a blog hop and the team has some amazing upcycle/recycle/do-it-over Lighting projects to share with you.

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

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Wood Veneer Edging Door Basket

     , ,  16 comments

I've always admired anyone who could weave a real basket - one made of some type of reed! You can find lots of DIYs on YouTube and Pinterest for woven baskets! And I really wanted to try making one. But I didn't want to go to the expense of buying flat and round reed and having to soak it in buckets of water to make a basket, so I tried using the next best thing - or so I thought. lol! Wood Veneer Edging! 

I had done some crafting using wood veneer edging that you can check out here and here. But making a basket - especially an envelope shaped basket had it's challenges and is perfect to share on this month's Creative Craft Hop! Hosted this month by  Donna @ Modern on Monticello. Donna and Sara @ @Birdz of a Feather take turns hosting each month! Thank you ladies for hosting this awesome Creative Craft Hop!  Welcome All! We are so glad you're here!  

If you're coming over from Ann @ The Apple Street Cottage, wasn't her Wall Vase Makeover amazing!

At the bottom of my post I'll tell you the next stop on this hop! But be sure to visit all of the creative crafters who join this hop for some amazing inspirations! 

So let's get started with how I made my wood veneer edging door basket!

Materials Used:

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

How To:

First off, this is not my design. I came across a tutorial by Juliana Deen on Pinterest for a Christmas Basket Ornament where she used flat and oval reed to make it. I enlarged the basket ornament to a size that I could use on a door or wall, plus, as I mentioned before, used wood veneer edging and round plastic rattan to make a door basket. 

First, cut sixteen strips of edging 24" long. These are actually called stakes in weaving. Turn the edging strips over to the wrong side and mark each one with a pencil line at the 12" center. Can you see the marks in the picture below? Lay out eight pieces of edging strips in a vertical position. I used yard sticks to weigh the strip ends down.

                    
Begin weaving the second group of eight strips - one at a time. Line up the first strip by the 12" pencil mark first. Starting on the right side, begin weaving it over and under across all eight vertical strips. Then the next strip, begin weaving under then over, etc., alternating each strip until all eight strips are woven. 
Once all the strips were woven, I used a small 1/2" edging strip that I cut out to try to evenly space in between the woven areas and used clothespins to hold the corners down.  
                     
Then turned the whole piece with the longer ends at the bottom (left, right) with the "V" shape of strips in the center.
Begin weaving by taking the first right strip over the left strip. 
And the left strip over the right strip. You will notice if using wood veneer edging, that it will crack when folding it over. Luckily, the strip is still intact by the backing. I tried to be very careful folding the edging over for a clean look.
Here is a larger view.
Take the next right strip over the left strip and .  .  .
under the left strip. Continue alternating with the left and right strips going over and under and so on as you pick up a new strip to weave.

Here, I'm on the last strip to weave.
Then visually adjust the stakes (strips) so that they’re even as best as you can.
The weaving is looking pretty good!
Now it's time for twining - which helps to hold all the strips or stakes in place. We need to make four rows of twining. Take a long piece of round plastic rattan leaving one end longer - about twelve inches - than the other. Find the center for the uneven length and bend it in the center. Loop the center around one of the middle strips, as shown. 
Use the two rattans to twine, one before and one behind the strip. The top twiner should always go behind the next stake, creating an "X", crossover, or twist between each stake. Maintain even tension as you twine the first row while alternating the round rattan. Continue this pattern until you come to a corner.
Continue with the same pattern, the top piece sliding behind the next stake and the piece underneath floats on the front.

If your run out of a rattan, get another long piece. Hold the short end aside and insert the longer piece behind the stake or strip right there. Continue twining with the new piece as before.
Twining around the basket until .  .  .

you've created four rows. Cut off excess rattan, leaving enough to tuck behind a stake on the inside.  Tuck any exposed rattan ends inside and behind the stakes.
To finish the look, tuck all the stakes or strips ends inside the basket. Use the over and under tuck for a neat and uniform look. 


To add handles, one for each top, cut a piece of round rattan and insert one end through the twining at the corner center of the basket thru both sides. 
Wrap the rattan in a circle, overlapping several times all the way around, 
securing both ends inside the twining.
Look at the finished piece! I love how it turned out!
And I am loving this envelope shaped door basket!
Especially filled with flowers!
 I hope you enjoyed how I made my Wood Veneer Edging Door Basket!
 
Welcome once again to our Creative Craft Hop!

Up next is Terri @ Decorate and More with Tip sharing her adorable Patriotic Gnome -Just in time for the Fourth of July celebrations!  Be sure to check out all of the talented bloggers sharing their awesome creations listed below: