Batman Lamp

Okay, I'm gonna show you how i managed to build a cool Batman lamp from nothing more then thin wall panels and old light bulb throat. Let's go!

This old piece of cardboard is gonna do good as a template for Batman sign, but you can cut pretty much any shape you want (I'm a huge nerd BTW).

I weren't going into much details when i was making template (mold) i improvised and left measurements if any of you wanna use them. They're in centimeters (common here in Europe), also i wanna apologize for my poor English, it's not my native language.

My wife jokingly said: Hey, forget the wood, just slap the light bulb onto cardboard and you got yourself a lamp in no time!

Don't do that.

Carefully cut the edges and fix any asymmetrical parts now because precise mold is essential for appearance.

I didn't have one board wide enough for entire lamp to fit on, so i found 4 that fitted nicely one on another and outlined the mold onto them, avoiding the knots and bumps on the panels.

Now, you don't wanna rush through this step because the vibrations from the jigsaw will make the thin panels to snap.

I can't stress enough how important it is to be careful when working with electricity. Never work with bare wires and cords when they're still in grid, insulate everything, test everything to make sure that cords work before installation. I found old lamp with neat button on/ off switch (picture 1), removed the metal parts and replaced the cord. On the pic 2 you can see how i wanna fixate the switch to lamp. And I'm using neon light bulbs because ordinary light bulbs tend to heat up and that's a major fire hazard.

To strengthen the whole thing even more i added slats on the bats wings and tail, because that's the weakest part of construction and it will be used to turn lamp on and off (you'll see). Glued the whole thing and left it over night to dry.

I had some black concrete paint laying around so I (and bu "I" i mean "my wife") painted the Batman. One coat of paint is sufficient if you spread it well enough. While the paint is drying I measured the distance between slats (where hanging hooks will come) and found a place on the wall where the lamp will be.

On the pic 1 you can see that i added a little gloss to Bat- signal using spray paint.

Pic 2 features hanging hooks and a lighter for scale. The lamp itself isn't very heavy (400- 500 gr) so they'll do just fine ( i hope).

Pic 3- method i used to hang the lamp. I left it hang loose so i can turn it on and off by lifting the Bat's tail off the wall.

An easy DIY project for everyone, and an interesting piece of decoration in no time. Hope you enjoyed it, any comment is welcome. Greetings from Serbia.