Ok, Lamps here are a little on the expensive side (and a bit garish – think 70's Vegas kitsch) so I decided that I would buy some really cheap ones with simple lines and be done with it.
So off I go to the local home store – equivalent to Mervyn's – and find two lamps. I liked them because while they were simple and would do for two years. They had a dual glass design – one frosted glass tube covering the light bulb and another clear glass hourglass shaped outer tube. The two glass tubes were held onto the lamp body but three metal pins that screwed into the base.
There was a small hassle buying them given they only had one in a box and it took about 30 minutes to disassemble and wrap up the floor model which, at the time, I thought was a bit ridculous – until I got them home and tried to put them together. I remembered the "you get what you pay for" adage as soon as I started. The first mishap was the three holes in the outer clear glass tube didn't completely align with the holes on the frosted glass tube (not to mention the holes in the base) and as we all know, glass is not REALLY all that flexible. So I figured out a solution and after about 30 minutes, got the first one put together and ….SWEET…. we had a lamp…until….I carried the lamp to its new home, set it down, and heard a crack. Apparently, the immense force with which I placed the lamp on the table was too much for the outer clear glass shade to take and it cracked into 8 pieces….@#$#@
Oh but that was just the beginning…I decided there needed to be an outer shade because I trashed the outer shade on both. Well, I am pretty industrious and had time…..so I started to make shades for both. I had great linen paper I bought in Berkeley and a glue gun… I could do this. After I figured out the basic structural integrity issues, I put them together and was quite chuffed with myself because, while they were a bit rough, I loved them.
So, in great anticipation once the two outer shades were finished, I excited started to put the 2nd lamp together and again when to put it down and …… CRACK!!! Double, TRIPLE @#$#@!!!
Ok, has anyone out there ever tried to glue back together cheaply manufactured FROSTED glass??? Well, lets just say I viewed it as an opportunity (retroactively of course) to work on my patience and as stupid as this sounds, I was not going to be beaten by these lamps!! I brought superglue and spent the next two days painstakingly putting the lamp shade back together – I should say, quite badly – as you can see, the final product is a bit crooked.
I finished last night (a little unsure if the repair would hold up) and VERY gently, replaced the shade but fingers crossed, it has held…yes, I know it has only been one day but here is final product (frosted shade under the new paper outer shade)……
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