DIY Post-Consumer Design

Post-consumer design refers to projects in which artists take discarded items and use them to make familiar objects in new ways, such as taking the lumber from a barn that was recently pulled down to make a chest. Items that would have ended up crammed into landfills now become elements of a new creation. Many of these items are primarily decorative, such as arbors or trellises, but others can be functional, such as a lamp you can make.

Hacksaw
Welding torch
Welding mask
Metal pipe
3 Metal pipe elbows
Horizontal garment rack bar
Light bulb socket
Electrical wire
Electrical tape
Fan grills
Red and green spray paint
Strong adhesive
Light bulb

Instructions

- 1
  Cut the metal pipe into six sections -- three that are about the same length, and three more that are about half the length of the first three. The dimensions you choose will depend on the size you want your lamp to be. These will form the three legs of your lamp, with the longer and shorter pieces in each pair formed into a rough "L" shape, so the shorter pieces of pipe will be the minimum radius of your lamp base.
- 2
  Paint the pipe sections and the pipe elbows with green spray paint and allow them to dry for the amount of time specified on the paint can. Pair up a long and short piece of pipe and weld them together at an angle of 90 degrees or less. Then attach an elbow to the other end of each long pipe. The elbows will be the "feet" of the lamp.
- 3
  Take the flexible horizontal bar from the top of a garment rack, spray paint it green and allow it to dry. The three shorter pipe ends and one end if the garment rack bar should all come together, with the garment rack bar running straight up from the meeting point. Join the bar to the three pipe ends with electrical tape, winding the tape around no more than two or three times. At this point, maneuver the legs so that the base rests securely on the ground, and then add more tape to hold the lamp securely. Spray paint the tape green.
- 4
  Run electrical wire through the bar so that the end with the plug is on the same end as the pipes, which will be the legs of the lamp. The other end should have the leads to connect to a light bulb socket.
- 5
  Take the two fan grills. Both should be circular, but one should be larger than the other in diameter. Bend the top and bottom of each grill down and inward, creating a slight oval. Apply red spray paint to both and allow to dry.
- 6
  Rest a light bulb receptacle at the center of the smaller fan grill. Connect the wires from the flexible bar to the receptacle, through the center of both grills. Use a strong adhesive, such as Gorilla Glue, Super Glue or Krazy Glue, to hold the grills to the garment rack bar. Screw in the light bulb.

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