The Mario Lamp!
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This lamp made out of PVC is inspired by the game Super Mario bros and is awesome. To make this project, you will need:
PVC cutter (or you can just use a bandsaw)
green duct tape
a darker green spray paint than the tape (optional)
lightbulb socket
lightbulb
sculpey (clay) (optional)
paint (optional)
a sharpie and pencil
scissors
and a "can do" attitude
PVC (more detailed measurements in pictures above)
a picture frame
construction paper (optional)
Make the Left Part of the PVC Frame
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For this step, you will need a 3.5 in., 5.5 in., and a 2.75 in pipe with a one in. diameter. Also, you will need two elbow joints, one t-joint, and a three-way elbow (I think that's what those are called) that all have a diameter of 1.5 in ( per single joint). Make sure that that three-way elbow joints on the bottom part of it face to the right of you and towards you as shown in the picture.
Make the Right Part of the PVC Frame
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For the right part of the PVC frame, you will need a 2 inch PVC tube with a diameter of one in., a 7 in. PVC tube with a diameter of one in., a 1/2 in. tall tube with a diameter of 1.5 in, and a triple elbow joint with a diameter of 1.5 in (per single joint). Snap them together as shown in the picture. In the picture, I accidentally put the triple elbow joint facing the same way as the left part of the PVC frame, which is incorrect. You should make the triple elbow joint on this part of the PVC frame facing the opposite way of the other triple elbow joint so it stays in balance better.
Snap Them Together!
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Now, take both sides and snap them together! After you do this, make sure to mark lines where you put PVC into another joint. If this doesn't really make sense, look at the picture above and copy where I marked a black line and green arrows
Mummify the PVC Frame With Duct Tape
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Now, this might sound sad, but you have to take the whole thing apart. Put all the joints in one pile and all the normal tubes in another. Take the pile with the normal tubes and put duct tape around the whole tube between the marks you made.
Spray Paint the Joints
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You might think that happing part of the lamp duct tape and the other half spray paint is dumb, but it actually looks really cool if the spray paint is a darker green than the duct tape color. I just did a couple coats on each side of the PVC joints to get maximum color "pop"
Mushroomize!
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Before you do this step, make sure to put your lamp back together. As you can see in the picture above, I had change the placement of the pipes because when I put the figures on the pipes, it made the whole thing unbalanced, which is bad. Now, you can add your own decorations to put in both pipes. For this, I made a baby mushroom and a goomba out of sculpey and painted them. Also, after I put the 2.5 in. PVC tube into the elbow joint where the light was going to come out of, I realized my lightbulb socket couldn't fit through it so I just didn't use that pipe.
Electrify!
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Now, you're going to put the light into your lamp. To do this, put your power cord to put into your lightbulb socket through the triple elbow joint on the right part of the frame and out the elbow joint. Now you have to put this into your lightbulb socket, which was a bit tricky for me. To do this, loosen the little screws on your lightbulb socket and twist your two wires around them. MAKE SURE YOU PUT THE RIGHT WIRES IN THE RIGHT SPOT!!!! IF YOU DON'T YOU CAN GET ELECTRICUTED. You can tell which wire is the neutral one by feeling each cord. The one that feels really bumpy and has ridges is the neutral wire.
Stabilitize the Whole Lamp
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Since my lamp was a bit shaky and unbalanced, I glued it to a picture frame with a colorful collage of construction paper on to it. If you really want to be pro, you can paint a fancy background on the frame. I also glued some of my old nintendo action figures to give it some "pop".
BOOOOOM!
You're done now!