Happy 2022! With a new year ahead and after a couple of weeks of essential rest and relaxation, now is a great time to reassess where you are in relation to your goals for 2022 and your lampshade making business. If you’re ready to take the next step, we’ve got five exciting ways in which you can get to the top of your lampshade making game and add new services, breath new creative life into your products and expand your selling reach. Read on to find out how you can make 20

It’s been a busy year on the Dannells blog and with many people trying their hand at lampshade making in the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, we’ve been writing blog posts that inspire, educate and support you, whether you’re new to lampshade making or already an experienced and established lampshade maker. This year alone we’ve posted over 80 blog posts that cover everything from lampshade making tips, tricks and tutorials to small business advice. As 2021 draws to a close we tho

As fond as we are of the super versatile drum lampshades, that are seen everywhere from our homes to hotels to the high street, lampshades making doesn’t have to be all about circles! Once you have the skills in your lampshade making arsenal to make a drum shade, the world is your oyster when it comes to alternative shapes of shade. Today we’re going to showcase the other shades we stock, share maker inspiration to tempt you to try a brand new lampshade shape and give you exp

Make your next lampshade a metallic one! Easier than you think to achieve, try making a glowing, sumptuous and expensive shade inner using our Stick It Metallic Lampshade Making PVC. In this post we’ll walk you through our range of four different metallic finishes, how to use them and of course show off the gorgeous shiny shades available! How to use As simple to use as our standard Stick It lampshade Making PVC LINK , just remove the release paper and laminate your choosen f

This month's Meet the Maker, Detola of Detola & Geek came to lampshade making later in life, using her passion for African textiles as her vehicle for a new self-taught career. Building her business from making lampshades that pack a colourful punch to celebrate her Nigerian heritage, she cleverly uses a variety of lampshade shapes and sizes to show off the bold and beautiful patterns to their max. We catch up with Detola and find out more about how Detola & Geek started, how

Filming our You Tube lampshade videos is easily one of our favourite days of the year and our recent filming in September was no different - especially as we decided to freshen up the look, feel, venue and even camera angles of our You Tube videos to support our US Lampshade Making Kit range. In this post we take you behind the scenes and show you what happens behind the camera, as well as in front of it and introduce you to the 2021 filming crew! 9.00 am After a few hours of

A master of felt making, Emma of Silversoles uses her talents to make unquestionably beautiful and tactile lampshades, that bring both modern and traditional textures into her customers homes. With a background in textiles, Emma immediately fell in love with the hands on nature of her craft and it's sustainability, leading her to develop and play with a wide range of felting techniques and patterns. We chat to Emma in this month's Meet the Maker interview to find out more ab

As our Needcraft Lampshade Making Kits hit American shores, to say we’re excited is an understatement! Already hugely popular in the UK and Europe, US customers will now be able to purchase our US Lampshade Making Kits directly from Amazon.com and we can’t wait to see what fabulous lampshades our state side customers will create! For newbie American lampshade makers, we've ensured that everything you need to make up your first lampshade is in the box, leaving you to simply ch

Contrary to popular belief, tiered lampshades are not just the staple of luxury hotel lobbies and high-end restaurants. They can look fabulous in your home too and in this post we’re going share everything you need to know to make two, three and even four tiered lampshades! By using the same basic lampshade making skills as you would in one of our Needcraft Lampshade Making Kits, you can easily create a statement lampshade in your favourite fabric with one of our Tiered Lamps

Adding extra shine to your lampshades has just got that bit easier with our TWO new and exciting metallic trims! Choose between our elegant Metallic Contoured Profile Trim, or purpose made Hockey Stick Decorative Trim, either of which can be used with any of our Lampshade Making Kits to create some extra lampshade bling! In this blog post we’ll walk you through the gorgeous and glitzy colour ranges, as well as share our step by step instructions on how to apply and use each o

Spotting a gap in the market, Vanessa of Copper Dust used her eye for interiors and gut instinct to start out in the world lampshade making. Inspired by the bold colours and stand out prints of her mixed heritage, she began creating gorgeous statement shades. From then to now, Vanessa has gone on to successfully develop her business by retailing a range of beautifully curated lifestyle products and offering first class interior design services. In this month's Meet the Maker,

The ‘back to school’ feeling is in the air and as children head off to school to learn something new, September naturally becomes a time for us to think about our own learning and what exciting creative endeavours we might try this Autumn. For many of our customers lampshade making is their business or side hustle involving printing designs onto fabrics and wallpapers, which are then lovingly turned into a beautiful range of handmade products, including lampshades. Often adm

Combining her passion for clean and simple design and talent for detailed printing, Joanna of Lume Lighting creates lampshades that are nothing short of beautiful. Ranging from intricately patterned modern drums to ombre traditional shades, along with her fabulous new wooden pendant lights, Joanna has built up a successful lighting business. We go behind the scenes to find out about her creative influences, what her days look like and why she loves lampshade making! Hi there!

Proving that lampshades can be the most creative part of your room, Cath of Crushshade has blown us away with her incredible sculptured lighting that not only oozes beautiful form, but incorporate clever use of colour and pattern too. Drawing on her studies in Textiles and surface pattern design, Cath sees each of her shades as a piece of textile art, which we wholeheartedly agree with! We caught up with her for this month's Meet the Maker interview to find out more about ho

Starting her career in fashion, Wendy Carlton of Dotty and Flo, has enjoyed applying her talent for painting to many commercial mediums over the years. More recently, after turning her bright and exquisite artworks into fabrics, Wendy made lampshades and cushions to give her customers the chance to own affordable pieces of her art and bring her passion for nature and colour into their homes. Building her successful homewares business up from scratch, we're thrilled to find ou

In this month's Meet the Maker interview we get to know talented lampshade maker Helen, of Made by HRM, who's a whirlwind of creativity with a passion for bright, colourful fabrics and quirky prints. Her love of making lampshades and Needcraft clocks has allowed her to build a successful retail craft business from her home, where she also enjoys teaching workshops, all while juggling her new family and her studies! Read on to find out what makes Helen tick. Hi there! How are

Nestled in her studio in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, Anita has built up her successful lampshade making business, Hearts and Glitter, after a career break to have her three children. She now specialises in beautiful bespoke lampshades made from British fabrics in soft pastels, traditional florals and conversational prints, styles that marry perfectly with her rural studio, that adjoins her family home. We chat to Anita, to find out more about her lampshades, her custome

Combining her childhood passion for collecting, her eye for fine art and her talent for creating beautifully made objects, we are delighted to meet Karen Kench of Kettle of Fish Designs. After long searches for things that truly represented her own style and taste, Karen set about turning her skills to making lampshades, jewellery, homewares and prints carefully incorporating the character of vintage finds. The results are astonishing and unique lampshades, that tell beautifu

With a joint love of all things vintage, best friends Charlotte and Kirsty of Co-Vintage set off on an adventure learning macramé together during lockdown, as a way to keep in touch. Nearly one year on they have truly mastered the art and we're in awe of the stunning macrame lampshades they've designed and created. The end result of their talent with knots and eye for design, is a successful Etsy business that alongside unique macrame lampshades also stocks macramé homewares

Channelling the beauty of her home surroundings in Cornwall, Alison Bick's bold and beautiful lampshades certainly pack a punch. Using her talents in graphic design, Alison has created a unique modern floral style that translates perfectly to lampshades, both large and small and as a recent winner of our #memadeshade Instagram competition, she stole the show with her whopping one metre Bird of Paradise shade! We find out more about Alison's inspiration, her approach to lampsh