Making A Checker Cork Lamp
Transform a lamp using cork!
Ever since I made this vision/mood/inspiration board, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about cork. It’s a beautiful material and for those not in the know, cork is made from the bark of the quercus suber tree, commonly known as the cork oak tree. These trees can grow pretty big, and they have really thick, rugged bark. I’ve been wanting to make a cork lamp for a long while (felt really inspired by this lamp) and after weeks of searching I finally found a base from a charity shop and a shade from the tip shop that I knew would be perfect. I wanted a cylindrical base so I placed the base inside a PVC pipe, then got to work cutting squares from thin sheets of cork, which I glued onto the base and shade to create a beautiful checker pattern. And voila! Read on to find out how you can upcycle a lamp using cork.
Before & After
Project Details
🕒 Project Time Estimate: 1 hour
💰 Materials Cost: $50
👷♀️ Skill Level: Beginner DIYer
Materials
Lamp base and shade
PVC pipe wide enough to fit the base of your lamp into
Thin cork sheets. I picked up mine from Choice Discount.
Selley’s Heavy Duty Liquid Nails glue
Tools
Measuring tape
Mini saw
Ruler
Pencil
Scissors or craft knife
How To
Step 1: To start, measure and cut the PVC pipe to your desired hight (the height of my base was 30cm). You want to make sure it isn’t taller than the internal structure of the lamp shade. Using a mini saw, cut a small section out of the PVC to allow for the lamp cord to feed through.
Step 2: Measure how big you’d like the cork squares to be; mine are 6cm x 6cm. Using a ruler, penc and scissors, cut out cork squares until you have enough.
Step 3: Glue the cork squares onto the PVC pipe and then the lamp shade. And that’s it!
Ta daaaa!
Omg I love this upcycled lamp! I love the cork checker pattern and that it's all made from cork - there are no awkward lines (which would have happened if I simply glued the thin cork sheets directly onto the base and lamp without cutting them into small squares) or I love that there are no other materials incorporated. I hope this project inspired you to make your own checker cork lamp. Now I’m wondering what else I can cover in cork? Ha!
