Wood-turned Rocket Lamp

This Rocket Lamp will bring the awe and beauty of deep space directly into your living space. The mesmerising and realistic smoke plume lights up your room while creating the effect that the rocket is truly blasting off!

Materials:

- A piece of wood. I used a 4"x4" piece of pine to turn the rocket on a lathe. (If you don't have a lathe, you can make the rocket from foam, clay, cardboard, etc. The wow factor of this project is in the light-up smoke trail so any other rocket on top will work. You can even use a toy rocket and skip to step 3)

- Polyester pillow stuffing

- Battery powered fairy lights

- Ply wood 5mm thick

- Wooden dowel rod

- A screw

- A smaller piece of wooden dowel, 5mm, used to attach the rocket to the base dowel.

- Hot glue sticks

- Wood glue

- Black spray paint (optional)

Tools:

- Wood-turning lathe

- Scroll saw (or a jig-saw)

- Drill/screw driver

- Hot glue gun

Attach your piece of wood to your lathe and turn a rocket shape.

I won't get into how to actually turn wood using your lathe. Let's assume if you own one, you know how to use it.

I have included a basic profile of the rocket shape I used in the pictures above. If this style is a bit cartoony, then you can turn any shaped rocket you like. For my next attempt, I'm planning on turning a SpaceX Falcon shaped rocket.

Using a scroll saw, cut out 4 tail fins from your ply wood.

I have attached a basic profile of the fin design I used.

To get the correct shape multiple times, first cut it out with paper then trace around that paper onto the ply wood.

Cut out a circle about 8 inches in diameter from the ply wood. You can do this with a scroll saw or jig saw.

In my pictures, I used a plastic circle I had lying around however I think ply wood would make a more sturdy base.

Screw the wooden dowel to the centre of the ply circle. The dowel should be about 12 inches high.

I used a 5mm drill bit and a 5mm wooden dowel to attach my rocket to the base dowel.

Drill a 5mm hole about 1cm deep into the top of the wooden dowel on the base and also into the bottom of the rocket. Add wood glue and a 5mm dowel and join both pieces.

Tip: You can drill the small hole into the bottom of the rocket on a slight angle which will result in the rocket appearing to fly off on an angle for the final lamp.

The next step is to hot glue the four fins to the bottom of the rocket as pictured above.

Then hot glue the fairy lights up and down the main dowel shaft.

Glue the battery pack to the base leaving the on/off switch facing the outside.

Pull apart your polyester pillow stuffing and begin to hot glue small clumps all around the base and up the shaft.

Start at the bottom and work your way up trying to fill all gaps.

Tip: Use caution around the battery compartment to not glue it shut. Try gluing the stuffing around the pack and a little on top so you can still take the battery cover on and off.

To finish off, very lightly spray some black spray paint to just lightly dust the stuffing. This will create a more realistic looking smoke effect. Do not over spray!

Turn on the fairy lights and watch your rocket blast off!

The rocket lamp I created is used as a night-light in my daughters bedroom who is currently interested in all things space.

You could paint your rocket however I like the natural look of the wood.

I made mine with battery powered fairy lights however you could also used main powered lights so you don't have to replace the batteries.

I hope you liked this project and are as fascinated with the realistic looking smoke trail as I am.

Thank you and I look forward to seeing your rocket lamps blasting off!