Dream Book Design

Teacup Lamp Tutorial

In a post a while back I wrote about how much I loved the Teacup lamp from Anthropologie and then how J made me one for Valentines day! You guys know how much I enjoyed this lamp. Even my friend loved it and decided that it would be great to make a lamp for her and her husband. She told me that she wanted to make a lamp that had their wedding photo on it, so she searched online for ‘make engraved lamp with your Photo,’ and it gave her some great results! I love her lamp and I love this lamp so much that I thought y’all might like it too, so heres a tutorial for you {we made a different one, since J didnt take enough pics the first time GRRR)!

Supplies needed:
  • 1 large bowl
  • 1 medium tea cup/coffee mug, 1 small tea cup, 1 EXTRA small teacup
  • 1 large plate, 1 medium plate, 1 small plate
  • 1 teapot
  • White primer spray paint
  • White high gloss spray paint
  • Lamp kit {or you could go get a cheap lamp at a thrift store/one from home you don’t like, and use its electrical works, which is what J did for the first lamp he made}
  • Drill with a ceramic drill-bit (ceramic drill bits can be $15 to $30)
  • 5 Min Epoxy gel

Process:

  • Start by taking your large bowl {which will be the base} and drill a hole directly in the middle. You need to make sure to add water as you drill through the ceramic material, otherwise the ceramic may crack. When first starting to drill start your drill at a tilt on the bowl, until you can feel a grove forming. Then gradually move your drill to where it is perpendicular to the center of the drilling surface. Drill until you produce a hole {may take a couple minutes}.
  • Once you have the first hole finished then drill a hole on the back side of the bowl {where the cord will eventually come out of}.
  • Continue drilling a hole through the center of all the dishes {minus the extra small tea cup} and wince at the horrible sound the drill makes on the ceramic.
  • Once the plates, teacups {again, minus the extra small one}, and bowl have holes through the middle, drill a hole right through the middle of the teapot lid. By doing this it should remove any top handle the lid could have.
  • Now you want to drill a hole in the extra small teacup. Make sure that you drill the hole on the bottom side of the teacup, it will look crooked{like pictured}.
  • Side note- if you are having your amazing hubby/boyfriend/whoever you think is hot, do this for you, make sure to take notice at how hot their arms look working the drill:):) Haha J will kill me for saying this and ESP. for posting the picture-oops;)
mmhmm
  • Stack the dishes in the correct order and make sure that the hole lines up through all.
Tada! All done..jk
  • Next, time to start with Epoxying the pieces together. You want to make sure that you put the Epoxy on the high part of the piece {the piece that is going to be in contact with the other piece}. For instance, when gluing the base bowl to the plate we put the epoxy on the bottom raised edge of the plate because that was going to go over the bowl.
  • Once everything is epoxyed together in the correct order {make sure correct order, J tried to glue down the wrong plate in a spot, luckily I noticed fast and we could fix it} its then time for a quick clean and then priming and painting.
PS- Don’t prime or paint one of your dogs, just the lamp. And just for the record, J was just shaking the can by Boomer, not spraying. Don’t want to make PETA mad.
  • To get the end result we ended up using the whole can of primer and the whole can of paint.
  • Now is when your patience needs to kick in. In theory you should let this puppy dry for about 7-8 hours…in reality we let ours dry for 3:) Now comes the electrical part of the project. Here are the supplies laid out:
  • The electrical is pretty simple, just insert the wires into the wire hole in the back of the lamp.
  • Then insert the wires into the hollow pole that will be in the center of your lamp. At the bottom of the pole, inside the upside down bowl, you will need to attach it to something that is wider than the hole you made. We used a small block of wood. Then insert the pole into the center of the lamp.
  • After you slide the pole to the top you will pull the wire up to give you room to attach the base of the light screw-in thingy majig.
  • You will need to attach the wires, this is really simple {this goes without saying but don’t have the lamp plugged in while handling the wires} just unscrew the screws on the side of the base, wrap the wires around the screw and tighten.
  • Next pull the wire tight from the bottom and put the cap on the light screw-in thingy majig and you are done. Screw in the bulb and plug in the lamp and hopefully it works. If it doesn’t blame your hubby 🙂
  • Also, at this time you would want to put the extra small teacup at the top of the lamp, bbuttt sadly our broke..:(
Overall, we love how it turned out. I definitely would have preferred if I could have found a different teapot, because I feel that the teapot really makes or breaks the lamp, but they seem really hard to come by at Goodwill/Savers. And obviously I wish our adorable extra small teacup didn’t brake- but overall I do still love it. Also, keep in mind that this definitely would not be a shade we would choose for the lamp, we just got it off another one in our house and used it for photo purposes.
What do y’all think? You want to try to make your own? Please do, and if you do- let me know!!!

Comments

  2. Cassie says

    You’ve suddenly made me hate the current thrift store lamps I’m refurbishing and now I need to make THESE for my bedroom. Dang it!

  5. Angy says

    You make it sound so easy. I bet if I tried it, I’d somehow break every piece with the drilling lol. They turned out amazing though 🙂

  6. adrianne says

    Thanks everyone! And it really is easy, I think I could even do it myself without the hubbys help:) Which says a lot;) Hope yall try it!
    <3,
    Adri

  8. Eliana says

    Love your blog, and this cool project!! its nice to have such a handy helper too! check me out at refinish-it-all.com. Im your new follower!

  10. Christa @ Stories of a House says

    Wowzers! How in the world did you come up with this? It is truly the most unique lamp I’ve ever seen, including the leg lamp on Christmas Story (okay, maybe not as unique as that). I love seeing that old card catalog in your header…it is gorgeous! Thanks for linking up.
    XOXO,
    Christa

  11. adrianne says

    Thanks so much everyone- we had a ton of fun making the lamp!
    @Christa-haha that is too funny! And THANK U for hosting the parties, they are my new favorite thing to do:)
    <3,
    Adri

  15. Kristina says

    I, too, fell in love with that Anthropologie lamp. In an attempt to find a cheaper way to get it I stumbled across your blog–which, by the way, is incredible! Just a question about the wiring of the lamp, though. I’m a bit weary of the electrical step with connecting the wires and such. Are there any precautions you took or basic know-hows of putting together a lamp using a kit? Thanks!

  16. adrianne says

    Kristina- the instructions that each kit comes with are very thurough and easy to follow. It’s not hard, but always safety first- so if you don’t feel comfortable doing it-don’t! Good luck friend
    <3,
    Adri

  17. Anonymous says

    Hello! Love the lamp!!

    I’m just wondering what size of drill bit you used to drill through the dishes?

    Thanks
    Lauren

  19. Nichol says

    I have been watching your blog for a while, actually saw you named on another site so I looked into your site. Then after a couple of weeks, I got my This Old House mag, and saw you and your husband featured in there with your apothecary banquet—awesome!
    Anyway, your site is awesome! Great ideas, always upbeat and fun. I love this tea pot lamp, think I’ll search for the pieces and make it for my daughters room, she is into that stuff, and I would get the Mom of the Year award!

  20. adrianne says

    Nichol,
    So glad you found us!! Thanks so much for the sweet words! You should totally make this for your daughter. You would win the award:):) good luck on it and have a great day:)

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