Ribbon Wrapped Lampshade

When I made my Ribbon Lampshade, I had actually started it with a different design in mind. I adapted it to work with the structure of the lampshade and was happy with how it came out, but when I found another lampshade at a thrift store, I decided to try out my original design. This wrapped ribbon lampshade has a pretty basic design and you can change it up with different ribbons to make it fun and work for your space.

What you need to make this will vary depending on the lampshade you have and the ribbons you choose to use.

Supplies:

• Lampshade - you need one with a structure, the top and bottom of the shade must be connected to each other
• Hot Glue Gun and glue sticks
• Ribbon of choice - preferably one that will allow some light to shine through
  • I used 3/16" wide slightly frilly ribbon in red, orange, yellow, light green, green, turquoise, light blue, dark blue, purple and pink
  • I also used 1/4" wide white ribbon for wrapping my lamp
  • The ribbons I used are easily found at Micheals and JoAnns craft stores
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Lamp - it helps to put your shade on a lamp while you work on it

You're not going to completely dismantle it. You want to remove any covering that is currently on the lampshade. Bring it down to its wire structure. In this picture, you can see what I mean about needing a lampshade where the top and bottom is connected. They can't be separate like in my Ribbon Lampshade Instructable.

Clean your lampshade frame.

Before getting started, wrap the top and bottom of your lampshade. These parts are going to show, so you'll want them covered so they look nicer.

You can use one of the ribbons you are going to use to wrap the rest of the shade if you want. I chose to use a basic white ribbon instead.

Just wanted to show you some pictures of my corners. Make sure you wrap as much of the structure as you can.

I started this lampshade and quickly discovered I needed more structure or the ribbons were all going to twist. To make my own structure, I took the ribbon I used to wrap the top and bottom and put supports going from bottom to top on each of the four sides.

Glue your ribbon to the inside of the bottom of the shade, and bring it up to the inside of the top of the lampshade. Trim any excess.

Time to start wrapping. You are going to start by gluing your ribbon to the outside of one corner. I would say to glue it so it is slightly overlapping the bottom of the lamp, you want to avoid gaps.

Keeping the ribbon tight, glue it to the ribbon support. Put a dab of glue and blue it to the next corner going around.

As you add new ribbons, very slightly overlap the ribbon below. You want to avoid gaps the best you can. You can do more overlap if you like the way it looks.

Here is where I started to make it a little complicated. I noticed that because of the angle of the sides, the ribbon was trying to twist because I just glued it straight to the lampshade structure To make it lay flatter, I glued the ribbon to one side of the corner, then I cut through the ribbon about halfway (Picture 7). Then, fold the ribbon over against itself a little (where it is cut) and glue it again on the corner. Hold the ribbon out towards the next corner as you glue it because that is the way you want the ribbon to go and lay flat.

Continue around doing this at each corner until you get back to the beginning corner. Just glue it down and trim the excess.

You are going to have a lot of glue on the edges of your lampshade. I'll give you an option at the end of this Instructable to cover it if you want. Otherwise, just leave it exposed like I did.

Continue around wrapping, snipping, and gluing your ribbons in place.

Use a ruler every once in a while to make sure you are going up each side at the same rate.

Once you get to the top, you are done!

If you want to cover your edges because they are a glue-y mess, you can use one of your ribbons (such as my contrasting ribbon) and glue it up the whole edge. This will cover the mess while adding a nice little touch to the lamp.

Now you are done!

Here is a look at different angles of the lamp.