Often referred to as the ‘go – to’ lampshade making book, Natalia Price – Cabrera’s book Handmade Lampshade certainly earns it’s moniker. Packed with essential information for starting to make lampshades, as well as hint and tips for seasoned shade makers, it’s full of practical step by steps project for soft frames and rigid shades. We thought we’d delve inside and tell you more about this ‘all you need to know’ guide on our favourite subject. Craft books come in all shapes and sizes covering a huge variety of subjects. Some are very niche and some take a more broad brush approach. Feeling a little lack lustre when researching her new passion for lampshade making, Natalia used her knowledge

This week we meet Laura Evans, a fine artist, collagrapher, printmaker and of course lampshade maker from the Isle of Purbeck. As she takes on her first retail space, we're excited to chat with her about how this will make a difference to her creative business and where she draws her inspiration from for her range of beautifully delicate printed shades. Hi there! How are you today and what’s on your workbench? I'm great thanks, today I have a conical shade in process, it’s a commission, with a fern print. I'm reusing the client’s shade frame, as it fits an American imported lamp, and they want to keep the original shade frame. How do you start the design process and where do you get your des

The trend for natural materials has been working its way in to our homes for a couple of years now with rattan, cork and cane making a big come back. We couldn’t resist jumping on the bandwagon too, by bringing some of our laminated cork lampshade PVC to life with an Empire lampshade kit and a pop of bold neon stitching. Made by laminating a thin layer of cork to 300 micron clear PVC, our cork lampshade making PVC lights beautifully and has a soft, warm feel. The bright contrast of the neon yellow jersey yarn 'sewn' in a blanket stitch along the bottom and top edge of the shade gives this DIY shade a fab contemporary twist. Replace the neon for pastel embroidery cotton, metallic string or mu

As we launch into high summer, the shades keep on coming for our #memadeshade - Instagram competition and the passion for reflecting your style and personality using one of our Needcraft lampshade making kits isn't slowing down! We've had a bumper month this month, with more entries than ever before. Our monthly #memadeshade winner for July is @shadydaisyco, who has made this amazing monstera shade as a commission for a client and she wins our monthly prize of a £100 voucher to be spent at Dannells. Congratulations Daisy! Her tropical designs can be seen splashed across her Instagram page, interspersed with fun animal shades and cool cacti. We asked Daisy about her lampshade making journey