Refurbishing a Pendant Lamp

Measure the diameter of the existing pendant light. Also, check to see if has a removable shade. If so, remove the existing pendant light. Take the measurements with you to purchase your Chinese paper lantern. Be sure to buy a lantern that fits easily over the existing light, keeping the light at least 4 inches away from the paper on all sides.

Unroll wax paper on a flat, smooth work surface. Using a marker, trace out feather shapes on the wax paper. Create about 75 feathers for a large paper lantern. Carefully cut out the feather shapes. Gather the wax paper feathers and place them in a neat pile.

Roll out the colored tissue paper on the flat, smooth work surface. Use one of the wax paper feathers as a stencil to trace the feather shape onto the tissue paper. Create about 40 tissue paper feathers. Carefully cut out the feathers and gather them into a pile.

Open the Chinese paper lantern. Cut thin strips of shiny packing tape about 1 inch longer than the width of the feathers. Press the ends of the tape strips to the edge of the work table for easy access. Starting at the top of the lantern, tape the bottom end of a wax paper feather to the lantern. This way the tapered end of the feather will hang down when the completed lantern is hung. Continue taping feathers in a circular motion around the lantern’s top. Stagger colored, tissue paper flowers among the wax paper feathers.

Begin the next layer of feathers about 1 inch below where you taped the first layer to the lantern. Continue to tape feathers around the lantern. Use one or two tissue paper flowers in the second round. Repeat this step, moving down 1 inch each time until you have covered the entire lantern.

Open the C-clip brackets on the top of the lantern wide enough to fit over the existing pendant light. Position the shade so the light bulb sits in the middle of the lantern. Screw the C-clips tightly to secure the shade to the pendant light’s pole or cord. If necessary, cut two pieces of floral wire about 6 inches long. Thread the wire through the bracket at the top of the lantern. Wrap the wire around the pole or cord of the pendant light to secure.