Category Archives: Artwork

Glass Insulator Pipe Lamp

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At a recent visit to an antique store, something caught my eye. It was a lamp – a very different looking lamp. In fact I wanted to buy it, but at $150.00 it was out of my price range.

The lamp was made from galvanized pipe and an old telephone pole glass insulator. I decided to make one, and now I am on my third build. Here are the finished lamps.

Note: Believe it or not, the most expensive material was the galvanized (galvo) pipe. It was about $40.00 at a local hardware store. See if you can obtain it from a salvage yard. You may have to clean it up a bit, but your build will be much less expensive and you are recycling.

Special Tools:

  • Diamond Drill Bit – 1/2″ DIA
  • Soldering iron – 40W
  • Long Drill Bit – 3/8″ DIA x 10″
  • Plumber’s putty

Materials:

  • Old weathered wood – recycled
  • Glass telephone pole insulator – about $7.00 – $10.00 at an antique store
  • Galvo pipe – about $40.00 new
  • Dimmer switch – $5.00
  • Lamp wire – $3.00
  • Toggle switch – $6.00
  • Metal – recycled

Galvo Pipe List:

Note: All pipe is 1/2″ except where noted.

Tips on Building the Lamp

1) Drilling The Top Of The Insulator

I must admit, I was a bit of a skeptic, but what the guy told me at the hardware store worked perfectly.

Set up a test fixture as below.

Put some plumber’s putty around the hole on the insulator.

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Fill the area surrounded by plumber’s putty with water. Then insert your drill with diamond bit attached, at roughly a 45 degree angle and begin drilling.

Slowly position the drill until it is completely upright. Then drill all the way through the insulator. It takes about 15 seconds or so to cut through. This way, using water, the diamond bit will not be damaged. It’s a bit messy though, but awesome.

2) Toggle Switch or Dimmer Cable

In my build, I show a toggle switch. It is just for show. After my first build, I used a dimmer switch – much simpler. Either way, some wiring mods will be needed to pass the wire through the pipe.

Those are the essential tips. I did assemble the glass insulator pipe first. With insulator attached, I inserted the wire with lamp socket into the insulator. As I fed the wire through, I kept adding the pipe pieces, and then attached all to the base flange.

These lamps make a really unique gift. So go ahead and add some “light” into someone’s life!

Shadow Shots

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A friend of mine went to Arizona for a couple of months to work. While there, she sent me several shadow based images.

Shadows are interesting because they provide the essence of the subject, yet often dark, elongated, and mysterious.

This is the shot that started the Shadow Shot Series.

In most of the shots, I used a simple photo editor on my phone to enhance the quality. Often, just increasing or decreasing the brightness or sharpness can make a significant improvement in the image.

For this image, I changed the shadow from black to a blue tint. Again, easily done on the phone’s photo editor.

This shot is titled, “Living the Dream.” It is exactly as it looked – no editing at all.

Out for a walk with my pup one morning, I snapped this crisp shadow shot. I lightened up the background to make the subjects pop out a bit more.

Don’t overlook any canvas. Even the living room wall provides opportunities in the morning light.

My advice – just keep your phone handy, which most of us do today, and snap away. If you have not played around with your photo editor app, do so. See what improvements you can make to your shots before texting. It really only takes a couple of minutes. I think you’ll like the results!