Soda Tab Lamp Shade

Mom thinks it's Hippy, Dad just smiled, and I don't know what I think of it...

But it's in my room and I guess I think it's sorta cool.

It's not the sturdiest thing in the world... but it's definitely an interesting conversation piece!

Want one?

Here's some directions!

You'll need 400-600 soda tabs depending on what size lamp shade you want to make.

First off, you'll want to take out that small little half circle in the middle of the soda tab. It's shaped like a half moon. It comes out by bending it back and forth several times.

 Then you'll need a lamp shade loop. We had an old lamp shade hanging around the house so I cut the top of it off with some heavy duty metal cutters.

 Be sure to throw this sharp pokey piece away safely.

 Next you want to bend your soda tabs like this.

The easiest way to do this is with pliers. Pinch the top of the tab with the pliers, then bend the bottom of the tab downward with your thumb.

Now this part will vary from lampshade to lampshade. In my case, the top ring of the lamp shade hoop was pretty large, so I had to take metal loops and attach them to the soda tab, then to the lampshade. Here's another way to attach them.

Put on as many as will comfortably fit. Too many will not be good. Your shade will be wrinkly.

Next... clip the tabs with a metal/wire cutter. Do it right in the center as shown in the picture below.

Your tabs should end up looking just like these.

 And this part is tricky to explain so here's a link to Sean's Blog. Look at the 6th picture down.

 And keep on going row after row until it's as long as your little heart desires!

 I ended up spray painting mine white.

 Hope someone out there can find this useful! Leave me a comment if you end up trying it!