Blog | Dannells Blog

Apr 6
3 min

Needcraft Kits - Easter holiday kids crafting ideas

With the Easter holidays upon us it's time to get imaginative with some of our Needcraft Kits. As inspiring and easy to make for kids as they are for adults, we've put together five ideas for turning our kits into entertaining child-friendly activities with exciting end results. It's time to play and get creative! 1. Lantern Making Kit The nights are already lighter and we’ve a feeling that there might be a (small) Easter garden party or two on the horizon. Create a cosy and

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Mar 26
3 min

Vintage Inspiration - Lampshade Making Book Review

For today’s modern lampshade makers, there are plenty of sources of inspiration, but looking back at the styles, techniques, methods and materials used in vintage books, can literally be a light bulb moment, so we’ve fished out a couple of our favourites from the Dannells library. Lampshade Making History Lampshade making is a craft that has stood the test of time, since the invention of the light bulb in 1879 and its domestic introduction into homes not long after. The Victo

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Mar 11
3 min

Book review - Sewing Lampshades by Joanne Heptinstall

On opening the book, Sewing Lampshades by Joanna Heptinstall, our hearts skipped a little beat. Hit with an array of colourful lampshade images and a foreword from Joanna Heptinstall that oozes confidence in her craft, we knew that we were in for a treat. Time to grab a cuppa and take a seat on the sofa to read, read, read! Joanna Heptinstall was already a trained upholsterer when she stumbled across and old, damaged lampshade that needed some TLC. After plenty of research, s

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Jan 15
3 min

Book Review - 50 Thrifty DIY Shades by Adeline Lobut

50 Thrifty DIY Shades is book based around you guessed it.…decorative shades that can be made up of scraps of fabrics, bits and bobs and unusual materials. Packed with traditional lampshades and more quirky upcycling ideas for making shades, there are plenty of interesting projects, and skills, to get your teeth into, or as always to inspire your own lampshade making practise. When reading a book review we always find it interesting to found out a bit about the author and the

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Nov 25, 2020
3 min

Book Review – Make Your Own Lampshades – Elizabeth Cake

Lampshade making doesn’t have to be an off the shelf craft and can be as creative as your imagination will allow, a fact that’s proved over and over again, in Elizabeth Cake’s Make Your Own Lampshade book. Using her knowledge of collecting vintage fabrics and her passion for upcycling and recycling, Elizabeth has put together 35 projects that stretch your imagination and see what’s possible using everyday objects and second hand finds. Think clashing fabrics, cute crosstitch

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Aug 27, 2020
3 min

Book Review – Handmade Lampshades by Natalia Price – Cabrera

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

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Sep 21, 2016
3 min

Creating a restful bedside

Exciting news in the Dannells world! We have some wonderful guest blog posts coming up from the incredibly talented Ella Johnston at Ella’s Place. Ella is an illustrator, crafter, journalist and stylist who over the coming months will show you several wonderfully creative and effective yet simple home styling projects. Tune in over the coming months to discover Ella’s fortnightly home craft projects. Now, grab yourself a cuppa and let the fun with Ella begin! How to upgrade y

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Nov 16, 2015
2 min

Get crafty with Needcraft lampshade tutorials live on Hochanda TV every month!

Sam Sterkin and Needcraft’s director David Little We are one week in with our wonderful new lampshade crafter and TV presenter Sam Sterken and we’re feeling pretty chuffed! Don’t miss our next live show on 10th December! As most of you will know we recently did a shout-out on our social media looking for an expert crafter and lampshade maker who could be the face of Needcraft on Hochanda TV. We were looking for someone really special to share our lampshade know-how on the new

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Nov 5, 2015
1 min

Needcraft lampshade tutorials on Hochanda TV!

It’s really exciting! Watch Needcraft lampshade tutorials today, live at 12 midday, 4pm & 7pm here and tell us what you think! The wonderful Sam Sterkin, founder of the Ministry of Craft, demonstrates how to use our fantastic Needcraft lampshade kits. #HochandaTV #Needcraft #lampshades #create #creative #Needcraftlampshadekits #Needcraftlampshadetutorials #lampshadedesign #SamSterkin #handmade #craft #lampshade

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Oct 22, 2015
1 min

Loving our customers with loyalty points!

We love our customers so much that we are introducing a new customer loyalty points scheme! It’s our way of giving something back to thank you for your custom! Collecting your points couldn’t be easier. Every time you place an order with us to buy your lampshade making supplies you will be awarded loyalty points when your order is despatched. You can redeem the points against any future orders, or you can save them up and spend them when you wish. All you need to do to collec

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Sep 21, 2015
4 min

Gosh and Absolutely explain how they sell their handmade lampshades

The Gosh & Absolutely team give us the low-down on their handmade lampshades and what it’s like starting a business… Last year a friend and I were discussing how much fun it would be if we could create a business from our craft-based hobbies. Basically, we were looking for an excuse to go fabric shopping on a more regular basis! I had just done a lampshade making course with the lovely Helen Round and had the idea of upcycling vintage lamps with new and exciting shades. My ne

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Aug 17, 2015
1 min

Needcraft’s lampshade making expert in Craftseller Magazine

We are delighted to have lampshade making Joanna Heptinstall featured in Craftseller’s online Magazine! Joanna is a force to be reckoned with… Her sense of design/ colour and attention to detail are hard to beat. She works creative wonders from her woman-shed with upholstery and lampshade creation, plus has a fantastic blog featuring wonderful tidbits on lampshade making here, Well worth a look. Joanna is one of many talented maker/ designers who entered Needcraft‘s ‘Business

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Aug 5, 2015
2 min

How to start you own lampshade business with Needcraft’s ‘Business in a Box’

Lampshade business = EASY! 1- Buy a ‘Lampshade Business Starter Package‘ containing everything you need to make small, medium and large Lampshades saving you 20% off the full price! 2- Start making lampshades for you, your friends and family… 3- When you know which of our items your customers love, use our Needcraft ‘Manufacturers’ Pack‘ for a variety of sizes and start selling online/ local shops/ market stalls etc – You now run your own lampshade business! Our ‘ Business

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Aug 3, 2015
5 min

Scottish lampshade designer tells us her business story

A bright, shiny light-filled Hello to you! I am Kirstie Seonaid MacKay, owner/designer/maker at UrbanRebel Design, a dynamic new design studio based near Glasgow in the West of Scotland. I started the business of making lampshades in November last year after attending a workshop on a dark, wet November Sunday in Glasgow. My first shade was a stunning cerise pink, tartan, Harris Tweed which I named “Happy Harry” because it was lighting up such a dark day! My life long obsessio

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Jul 14, 2015
3 min

Botany Bay Designs talks handmade lampshades and nautical inspiration

I’m Nicky… and I’ve been making handmade lampshades as Botany Bay Designs for one year this June. I’ve always been interested in crafts and have dabbled in a variety of things from soap making, silver stamping and dressmaking. However, it was my love (some might call it an obsession!) of fabric which lead me to lampshade making. I am a great believer in using the internet for research and when a family member said they wanted a handmade lampshade with puffins on it I set to w

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Jun 30, 2015
6 min

Announcing Needcraft’s competition winner, Caron Ironside Design- Lampshade designer and scree

Caron not only makes her own lampshades, cushions and more but prints her own Perthshire and 1950s inspired fabrics. Her designs have a mid-century feel using rich and vibrant colours. A background in textile design put Caron on the right footing for her new craft career when, as part of a college project in 2011 as a mature student, she made her first lampshade. Caron has given us her inside story with hints and tips on setting up and running a lampshade business and is the

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Jun 30, 2015
1 min

Shhhh… Needcraft lampshade competition winner to be announced later today!

Wow! What an epic lampshade journey this has been… Our #lampshadebusinessinabox competition has attracted many talented lampshade designers. We’ve been humbled by their stories and the lovely insight into their journeys setting up and running a lampshade business. All recorded here on our blog. The sheer lampshade talent and creativity that’s out there is mind-blowing! Five lucky runners-up have already won Needcraft lampshade manufacturers’ packs and later today we will anno

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Jun 22, 2015
5 min

The lampshade loft- competition runner up #5!

Jane Warren has been making lampshades for around 8 years and runs her small business, The Lampshade Loft, from home. Jane is very active on the lampshade scene and her beautiful lighting creations are an obvious winner for our #lampshadebusinessinabox competition! Jane has won a Needcraft lampshade manufacturers pack’ to help her on her business journey. Read on to find out how running her own craft business works for Jane. The name relates to the fact that I sell lovely gen

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Jun 8, 2015
5 min

Detola and Geek’s Ankara print lampshades are runner up #3 in our Needcraft competition!

We are thrilled to be showcasing these striking African print lampshades as third runner up in our #lampshadebusinessinabox competition ! Tola is lucky winner of a lampshade manufacturing pack to help her on her way with her business! We just couldn’t resist the stunning African wax print designs (Ankara in Nigerian circles) and pro-active, determined nature that Tola approaches her work with, always sprinkled with a good dash of humour! We asked Tola to give us the low-down

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