We make an eco-lamp from corrugated cardboard

If you like environmentally friendly materials and handmade lamps, then this life hack is for you! You will not need any special knowledge or devices to make a lamp from corrugated cardboard at home! The creation of the device does not require great accuracy or strict adherence to the stages of lamp manufacture.

The shape of the lampshade is a dodecahedron (from other Greek - “twelve” and “face”), consisting of many pentagons that are connected together. It is not as difficult to compose as it may seem, but you will need a lot of patience and time to cut all these parts manually. With this sketch you can work on your handicraft skills. And in the future, and dream up new ideas for the following do-it-yourself corrugated board fixtures.

Choosing materials and tools

The most pleasant thing about working with cardboard is its easy accessibility and cost-effectiveness. Even if something goes wrong and you ruin the sample, finding a new packing box will not be difficult. In addition, cardboard is biodegradable and recyclable. Therefore, it belongs to rather environmentally friendly materials for use and will give the product a very original, modern look.

What you need:

  • Packing cardboard;
  • Cutter;
  • Ruler;
  • Pencil;
  • Hot glue with a gun;
  • White glue;
  • LED bulb with a cartridge.

For making a geometric lamp with your own hands, it is better to use a thick five-layer corrugated cardboard. But you can thin, because it is easier to cut by hand. The main thing is that the lamp should be LED, not incandescent. This is important because it will not burn cardboard.

Correctly cut cardboard

  1. The first step is to draw a pentagon of the correct shape on the cardboard sheet. All sides of the pentagon are equal and can have a length of 7 cm and above. Up to 10 cm from each edge is enough for a table lamp. The thickness of each part will be about 1-2 cm. The main thing is that all pentagons should be equal. Try to be as accurate as possible!
  2. Then cut it and use it as a stencil for the remaining ten pentagons. In total, they should turn out 11 pieces (from below, the lampshade will be attached to the base). Thus, drawing shapes is much faster than measuring all sides with a ruler every time.
  3. Now inside each pentagon draw 5 smaller pentagons for each of 11. They should have a distance of about 6 mm from each other.
  4. All you have to do is measure 6 mm from the sides and trace the line. These pentagons must be one smaller than the other, so that you get 5 parts of different sizes (from 7 to 4.6 cm). When you finally finished drawing them, then carefully cut all the details along the lines with a cutter. This is the longest process of the rest, but not the most difficult.

Build

So, for the lampshade, we need to make 11 pentagonal parts. First of all, put a large part on the table (or something that keeps it in a level position).

  1. Apply hot glue to the middle of all sides and glue a smaller pentagon on each of them so that the corners are exactly in the middle. You will notice that in order to touch them you need to rotate them a little along the axis.
  2. Finish with the first two and continue with the same 3 smaller details. You will get something that looks like a bowl. And the composition is somewhat reminiscent of a star.
  3. It remains to glue the remaining pentagons on top, in total their number will be 11. You can use white glue or hot glue for this, it does not really matter.
  4. When the preparation of the parts is completed, the glue has dried, then you can make a lampshade. Put 2 bowls of pentagons on the table. Apply hot glue to 2 adjacent sides and glue them together, making sure that the two vertical sides are firmly in contact with each other. You will notice that you need to lift them a little to touch them.
  5. Finish the first round by gluing 3 new pentagons for the left side of the lampshade. Add a new piece on top of the two of them by gluing 2 adjacent sides to the two pentagons.
  6. Do the same around the “bowl” by gluing the 4 remaining pentagons. All 5 figures of the second round should also touch each other on the sides: to do this, you need to place them as if you were closing the "bowl" to create a ball. Turn the ball upside down: your lampshade is ready!

We make the base for the lamp

  1. Draw about 8 new pentagons on the cardboard, just like the ones you did in the first step. The number of parts needed for the base depends on the thickness of your cardboard and on the thickness of the base of the lamp holder. For this reason, be sure to make several attempts. You may need to remove or add some details. When you are sure about the number of pentagons you need, draw a smaller pentagon in each of them with a difference of about 1 cm from the border.
  2. Cut everything using a cutter, removing the central part. What you get is the new equal pentagons.
  3. Glue them one above the other with white (or hot) glue, making sure that this time they coincide in the corners and sides.
  4. The next and last detail will be the one that will hold your cartridge. So, draw another pentagon on the cardboard, like the previous ones, and draw the outline of the lamp holder in the middle. Cut both the pentagon and the outline you drew. Remove the center so that the round hole is free to insert the lamp holder. Glue this new piece of pentagon over the rest of the base, always matching along the sides and corners.

We collect all the elements

Finally, turn the base upside down and cut a thin section at the bottom of one side so that the cable passes through it. All that remains to be done is to put the cartridge inside the base and insert the cord into the hole. In the end, you need to glue the lampshade tightly with the lamp so that the structure is stable, the same on all sides and does not fall off.

It remains only to connect the lamp

All you have to do now is insert the lamp holder through the hole in the base and finally place the lampshade that you made on top of it! Light up your new corrugated board lamp and enjoy the impressive lighting effects it creates!

Watch the video: Origami-style cardboard furniture for dorms, urban nomads (March 2024).

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