Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Time for an update on the standing lamp.

All the pieces have been through both the bisque firing, been glazed with "Hi Fire Clear" and fired up to cone 5. I brought them home, all excited about putting the lamp together this evening. Here are the pieces lined up on our coffee table:

Then we hit our first glitch. I knew we would be able to unscrew the lamp pole from the base; but I completely forgot about the cord! And, this being a very commercial lamp (purchased used, but made in China), detaching the cord from anything proved to be more difficult than I thought.

When Avi (my husband) came home, we unscrewed the bulb housing, only to see the wires were permanently embedded in it. No unscrewing wires here.

For a bit, I pondered creating this as a non-functional piece of art. But Avi loves a good puzzle. In the end, we decided to cut off the plug, pull the wire out from the top, with a lead wire attached to help guide it back through when we're done putting everything together. The wire is out, with the lead wire still in place in the tube. It will be reattached to the power wire and pulled back down through when we're done with everything else. Then we'll just attach a new plug. I'm sure this is all clear as mud. At least Avi and I understand what we're doing.

Then we had fun trying to decide where each section would look best on the lamp. This was what we've come up with:
I've decided I need to make a "cap" to top off the stack and make it fit the top piece of the lamp more snugly. I wouldn't want to just leave a gaping hole at the top. I'll work on that tomorrow. I'm planning on making one concave and one convex, then deciding which I like best when they're done.
So, there'll be another lapse in time from now until the next post. Stay tuned for the next installment.