Rubber Band Lamp

Make this super cool rubber band lamp with a few pieces of wood and some rubber bands!

• (2) 4" Square Wood Plaques. I got a 4 pack from Hobby Lobby for $2.99
• (4) 3/8" x 8" Wooden Dowels- you can get a long dowel and cut it to size
• Drill & Bits: Spur Point (3/8"), Spade Bit (3/4")
• Lamp Cord Set: Snap-In Pigtail Candelabra-Base Socket and Cord Switch
• Candelabra Bulb (preferably a low-heat bulb like an LED- rubber bands can catch fire if there is enough heat)
• Hammer
• Wood Glue
• #64 Rubber bands

Get your wood plaques. With a pencil, mark out a square whose edges are 3/8" away from the edge of the wood (I tried making the holes closer to the edges and the wood ended up splitting, which made the corners break off). After you have everything marked, use a drill to make holes in the corner of the square that are 3/8" wide and about 1/3" deep; be careful not to drill all the way through.

Mark the center of the plaque and drill a hole that is 3/4" wide- I used a spade bit to do this (1" wide might work as well, depending on the size of your bulb). When drilling, make sure to have a scrap piece of wood under you plaque for when the bit comes through the bottom. I went 3/4 of the way down and not all the way through because I didn't want a huge hole in the bottom of the lamp.

Install the cord by squeezing the metal part in and pushing it down into the hole. It should fit snugly. Excuse my dirty cord- it came from an old lamp.

Clean up pencil marks with an eraser and a wet cloth. I used the eraser first, then the cloth, then the eraser again. This got rid of most of the pencil marks.

Put a dab of glue into each hole and place the dowels into the holes. Give them a hit with a hammer to make sure they are firmly in place. When attaching the top put some glue into the holes, insert the dowels and tap with hammer- to prevent any damage, make sure to put something between the hammer and the wood.

Stretch all of the rubber bands before use. When you stretch them, they should turn a lighter shade. If there are dark spots or if the color is splotchy, stretch the dark spots and they should lighten up.

Put the rubber bands on by stretching them around the top of the lamp and pulling them down to the bottom.

Move some rubber bands aside so that you can insert the bulb. I put the bulb in before putting the rubber bands on because I didn't want to break the bulb while I was handling the lamp.

Arrange the rubber bands however you please!