Bedside Tree Branch Lamp

Make a spherical desk or bedside lamp out of branches. It will throw interesting shadows on the walls.

Materials needed:

• Branches (a bunch of them)
• Hot glue gun
• Masking tape
• Balloon
• Some cardboard

First and foremost you'll need some sticks that will make up the globe. I used branches from two differently colored bushes with diameters from about 2 to 8 millimeters.

I needed about 20 small branches for the entire project. Cut the branches to small pieces ranging from about 3cm to 8cm. They don't need to be perfectly straight, in fact, bent ones sometimes work even better.

Blow up the balloon and, using some cardboard, build a stand for it, so that the ballon can stand up straight and is easy to work with. I built a cardboard box, cut a wedge into it, squeezed the end of the balloon into the wedge and secured the balloon with masking tape.

To start off, tape larger branch pieces to the balloon in random positions and angles. Make sure not not use a lot of tape, it just needs to hold the branches in place shortly and will be removed later.

Then, using the hot glue, start connecting the branches using additional ones, forming an interconnected mesh.

Once branches are part of the mesh, you can remove the masking tape that is holding them to the balloon. Doing this while not all branches are attached is easier, as there is still some space. Continue adding branches until the sphere is the desired shape.

This is the laborious part. I took a few hours to assemble the sphere.

Using a marker, indicate a horizontal line on the balloon that you can work towards, so that the edge will be roughly straight.

Remove all the tape holding the branches to the ballon and say goodbye to your little friend.

Hold on to the globe and, using something sharp, pop the balloon!

If everything went well, you should have a globe of branches to use as a light.

Place a light source (I used a low wattage light bulb) into the center of the sphere and light it up.

The stronger the light, the stronger the shadows of the branches will be on the wall.

Enjoy your new lamp!