I made a note a few months ago to write a blog post once I had finished a really big lampshade order. But things have been so busy since then, I’m only just getting round to it, sorry! Some of lock down (especially the beginning when I was doing Joe Wick’s workout every morning and taking Arthur for a long walk to fill my time) was very quiet but the summer was pretty busy. I guess people were spending more time at home and wanting to make small changes to their interior that were easy to do from home. Great for lampshade makers like me 🙂

It all worked really well at gilhoolie in terms of social distancing – my workshop is at the back of the house so clients just came through the side gate and we discussed things on the patio, at a distance. I’m glad I could still see clients when they dropped off lampshades to discuss fabrics and linings, and especially when they came to collect their shiny new lampshades later on. I’m not sure how it’s going to work over the winter but as long as it isn’t raining I can continue like this without any problems. One of my jobs this half term is to start collecting quotes for building a proper workshop in the garden. I’ve been planning it out to make sure I have enough space for working, sewing, drawing and storage too, lots to think about!

Anyway, back to my biggest lampshade order yet! The order was for an interior designer in Surrey and involved lots and lots of different sized lampshades which needed recovering. Some of them were really big, I remember laying the PVC out on the lawn to try and work out how much I would need for them all. The client wanted them to have black fittings and gold embossed PVC linings. Standard lampshade fittings usually come in white but it isn’t difficult to spray them a new colour and it adds interest to the inside of a lampshade.

I ordered some graffiti primer, paint and varnish from VIP in London and when it arrived I set to spraying them on an old decorating sheet in the garden on a nice summer’s day. They looked great all shiny and black! I also remember sitting in our front room finishing off the lampshades with a fan directed at me as it was too hot to work in my workshop. As I write this it’s all cold and wet and gloomy outside…

I have been going through my phone photos taken over the last few months to find ones for this blog post and there are an awful lot of lampshades to share with you. Maybe I’ll do another post showing you all of them next. I often forget just how much I have done.

Here are a few of the black and gold lampshades at various stages of making, don’t they look smart?! I love the before shot with several lampshades that are dented and bashed, with Arthur lying in front.

If you have a lampshade that has seen better days, just get in touch for a quote to have it recovered with lovely new fabric and shiny new linings and fittings. Check out our lampshade guidelines and frequently asked questions for advice.