Where to find cool Lamp Bases - Top 5

When i display my lampshades at markets, i have a few on lamp bases but alas these are just to show off my shades and not for sale. My idea is that you buy a great new shade and recycle an old base you already have. Or hunt down a cool second hand one. 

People often ask me, "Where do you find your lamp bases?"

(this one came from my mum & dad, one i grew up with and now my daughter has it in her room)

1. www.ebay.com.au

It's something you either have to be lucky at or very persistent. I have bought three great lamp bases, and made sure they were within pickup distance.  All in working order, but i did get them checked by an electrician for safety and a bit of maintenance was needed. They were worth it though, all three for under $100; one carved floor lamp and two small table lamps.

    

2. South End of King St, Newtown

Boardwalk - 527 King st, great ceramic 60s and 70's style bases, & wooden standard lamps. Chat to chris who owns the store, nice guy.
531 on King - have quite a few standard floor lamps.

Towers Antiques - 539 King st, great selection from a variety of eras.

Rosebud Antiques - bit further down King st on the same side.

Wonderland on Alice - 104 Alice st, i think they are only open Saturdays. Real treasure trove.

3. Junktique - 62 Glebe Point Rd, over 3 levels.
Make sure you have lots of time, you can really get lost in there.

4. Mitchell Rd Gallery - 76 Mitchell rd, Alexandria.
You can't miss it, big yellow building and make sure you check out the auction house downstairs to try and get a bargain. But so much to look at upstairs. 

5. Street Gods *FOR FREE*

I live in the inner west of Sydney and there is nothing like walking my dogs to find a treasure left on the footpath or in a back lane. I've found three of my best this way 2 marble beauties and a gorgeous wooden standard lamp. They all needed rewiring of course, and after a bit of tender loving care stripping back old varnish and polishing them up; they look amazing (especially with the right shade).

  

But don't forget about Vinnies, they usually display lamps in the window so have a look next time you walk past one. 

If you are getting a lamp rewired, ask about having a cotton cloth covered cord. They look so much nicer than plastic and don't usually cost that much more. 

Finders Keepers Winterland

Last night was my first night at Winterland Finders Keepers

and what a lovely venue!

Great music, yummy food and a beautiful range of stalls. 

A great night out, and of course all day saturday and into the night too.

This is the last weekend, so don't miss out!!

New Lampshades for Winterland Finders Keepers

Here's some new shades that i've been working on

and I'll have them at Winterland Finders Keepers Market

this Thursday 29th July, Friday & Saturday

at Carriage Works, Eveleigh 

Little Birdy

Customers have loved this in chocolate, now i've got duck egg and waiting in the wings i have deep red and gold! I love it so much i'm going to make a couple of hand stitched lampshades too. I'm eagerly awaiting the new range of fabric to come out of the Ink and Spindle studio so i can get busy with it. My fingers are twitching....

Little Red Riding Hood

I fell in love with this fabric the second i saw it and have tried to collect all the colourways. I'm creating a collection including this great lampshade and several cushions in all the colours i have - green, red, pink and purple.

2009 International Year of Natural Fibres

I'm new to blogging, but i can now see how people spend hours reading other people's blogs. I did a pretty simple search for "Felt" and came up with this amazing blog about Wool Felt and Textiles, which have been a growing passion for me over the past few years.

http://wool-felt.blogspot.com/

Check it out to see some of the most amazing felt creations from necklaces, hats, rugs to amazing wall art which is functional as well as beautiful, possessing acoustic and sound proofing qualities.

http://www.annekyyroquinn.com/

This london based designer anne kyyro quinn, makes me want to experiment with felt and create some sculptural pieces for my own home.

2009 has been declared the Year of Natural Fibres and to help celebrate, in May there was a Felt Festival in Felletin (where else could you have it?!), France which was to demonstrate the beauty and versatility of felt with lots of workshops, displays and some serious felt networking for industry types from all over europe.

I first fell in love with felt on a visit to Munich in 2006, where i stumbled upon the amazing Daimer Filze shop. Wall to wall felt like a rainbow. I bought some beautiful animal shapes and flowers which went into my first lampshade creation for my daughter Remi.

I like to hand stitch the felt shapes on to avoid unnecessary glueing.

This adds to the hand made design and gives me great creative satisfaction too. To top it off the fabric i covered the shade in is a blend of Yak Hair and Hemp, so soft and great texture.

These shades are from the range i sell at the markets, and even just little details like the small dots; only 8mm in diameter, create a great effect! They are so cute, and i love to utilise the small details in the fabric too, the natural edging often goes unseen. But why not make it into a feature?

The fabric on this forest shade is great, when the light is off it's a subtle shade of yellow/cream but once it's illuminated the colour totally changes to a fantastic celery colour creating a magical green backdrop for a flowery forest.

These sweet ducks get a lot of attention. Love mixing the textures of rough cotton and soft wool felt. I enjoy a lot of colour, but sometimes you just can't go past simple white on white.

Mathilda's Market a Success

Sunday 5th July at Mathilda's Market in Lane Cove was a great first market experience. It was very reassuring to have some other first timers around me. Once the doors opened it wasn't long before i made my first sale of a Softy Toy Owl and it kept steadily going from there.

The Softy Toys were a big success. I'll definitely need more for next time

The old wooden ladder i found worked out perfectly for displaying the quilts

1st market in july

I've got my first market coming up on Sunday 5th july, from 9am to 1pm at Mathilda's Market, St Ignatius College Riverview, Tambourine Bay Rd, Lane Cove. Here's some photos of what i'll be selling - handmade kid's quilts, cushions in super cute fabrics from Japan, handsewn lampshades with gorgeous felt applique from Germany, lovely softie dolls from Saffron Craig and Kristen Doran designs and handprinted gift cards. 

The hand stitching detail is small, but a fun addition to a cute design.