help! where can i find modern lampshade frames?
Update: I took some pity on Katrina and did a little more research. See below! –Mary T.
“I’m itching to make some lampshades using felt, but need some frames!” says Katrina. “I’m looking for just a simple, elongated cylinder frame, or a drum-shaped frame, and came up empty handed. I found lots of Victorian frames that do not lend themselves to the modern design I am looking for.” Katrina wants a frame that looks like the images above. So how about it, readers? Can you shed any light on this subject?
Update: Some possible solutions after the jump — click to see them!
Would these top and bottom wires from Fogg Lighting work? Fogg Lighting also offers an oval design which is closer to what you’re looking for.
Lamp Shop also offers wire rings — possible to use those to create your own form?
It looks like you’re looking for a cylinder design, but this page’s square frame from Hannah Murphy Lamps & Lampshades is pretty simple and could feel clean and modern.
Lara Cameron design has a nice tutorial on making a lampshade, and she mentions getting her supplies from Australian company Handworks. Alas, the Handworks Supplies website is no longer online, leading me to think they may not be in business anymore, but their phone is still listed online — perhaps worth a call?
Duffy London has a modern-ish make-your-own lampshade kit. Not sure it could be retrofitted to what you need, but possibly?
And of course, we welcome reader help as well!
You might take apart a cheap IKEA lampshade to get what you want.
Please, please I have been looking too for the last three months.
Thank you for all your great suggestions. I definitly feel like I have a good starting point now. You guys are the best. :) I’ll have to e-mail a picture of the end result. :)
-Katrina
I made some long cylindrical lampshades last year by using the rings referred to above. I just got stiff paper and glued the rings to each end of the paper. Also, there’s a place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn that sells lamp shade parts.
Here’s more info:
http://www.dominomag.com/daily/blogs/scrappy/2007/03/lamps_finished.html
Good luck!
http://www.moonshineshades.com/
They might be able to make a frame for you if you wanted to make the outside!
I know of 2 sites you could try. I have not ordered from them though.
http://www.mainelyshades.com
http://www.mainelyshades.com
oops, heres the other
http://www.lampshop.com
[...] few months ago you helped Katrina figure out where she could find a lampshade frame to make her own… Well, she just wrote in with the results. Pretty [...]
Anyone know what happend to mainelyshades.com? I’ve purchased from the site many times and the link no longer connects. Another casualty?!?
[...] 5. Joy is wondering what happened to mainelyshades.com. She writes: I’ve purchased from the site many times and the link no longer connects. Another casualty?!?” Click here to leave her a clue, or to see more ideas for modern lampshades. [...]
I believe Mainely Shades is now affiliated with:
Fogg Lighting
281 Marginal Way
Portland, ME
800-624-6359
http://www.fogglighting.com
Good luck!
I got everything I needed for lamps and lampshades from http://www.lampshademaker.com
Very good source for frames. They do anything you want. The website shows their line of frames which they hold in stock but they also do custom. I get all my frames from them. Very good company
Hi. I, too was searching for Mainley Shades. They used to sell an item I need now. A small, plastic coated candle shade frame, 2 and 3/4″ across top, by 6″ across the bottom, by 3 and 7/8″ high. I have been searching for 4 days on the web, and cannot find this frame. It has a candle clip on it, also, the top part goes straight down for 1″, then the skirt part flares out. If anyone can help me, I would greatly appreciate it. I found plenty of web sights that sells frames, but not like this one. Thank you for your help.
You can get any shape frame you want custom made by smithwire.com, and they’re no more expensive than a ready-made frame. It doesn’t say much on their site. You have to call them for details. If you’d like to learn how to make fabric covered shades from scratch, I learned how to make soft lampshades (the kind with a lining, Victorian shades, etc.) the way professionals do it from an excellent e-book available from shadecrafters.com. It turned out to be a whole lot easier than I thought it would be.
I am looking for the same thing and found the following sites – they each offer the washer top & bottom wire frames and they are stinkin’ cheap! Now to get it assembled properly…I guess it’s just a matter of marking the cardstock correctly & getting it straight (blech!).
(for top & bottom)
http://www.fogglighting.com/Lampshade_Rings_s/98.htm
(for the washer top)
http://www.lampshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=ls&Category_Code=06_03_WIRE_WASHER
(for the bottom wire)
http://www.lampshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?
I was hoping that someone would sell a self-adhesive drum shade. Too bad – there’s a ton of $ to be made there!
don’t bother buying frames from lampshademaker.com – she just gets them from http://www.arowire.com and charges more! Aro wire is in LA and is the biggest frame maker in the US – and they are really nice,so use ‘em!
Pamela, for your information we’re not even breaking even on the frames we used to buy from Aro Wire. Shipping costs are exhorbitant for large frames. We still have over 3,000 frames in stock, many styles not made by Aro Wire. We occasionally sell frames to other lampshade makers as a courtesy to our lampshade-making customers. Most of them are used to make our own custom lampshades for designers. If you want cheap frames, you can pick one up now and then at the GoodWill Store. Aro Wire does not sell their frames wholesale. Large wholesalers have a minimum of 25 of each frame before you can get a decent price – then you have a tremendous amount of freight to pay. By the way, have you seen Aro Wire’s quality lately?
Could you possibly have a lamp shade frame in the size of 18in. x 8-5/8 in? Or better yet I am looking for a white chiffon lamp shade in that size. Please advise.
Thank you!
I have purchased dozens of lampshades from Aro – prices are very high + shipping. You might try Lamp Hats (tennessee) except their catalog looks like a replica of Aro – prices are similar.
Problem with these companies is they only make victorian-ish frames and charge a fortune to make something more modern. “Custom” for even just a plane round drum shade. Ridiculous.
I hand sew lamp shades for designers, and single customers – silk to just about anything…. except paper! I guess we’re stuck with Aro Wire until someone else comes out with some more modern shades – and doesn’t call them “Custom” – or we just tear old ones apart as I often do.