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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 Lampshade Frame System. Love the metallic interior glow you often see in a tiered shade? We’ll show you how to achieve that too!
Whatever space you have in your home, our Tiered Lampshade Frame Systems are available in a range of sizes and can be made up in an assortment of Stick It PVCs. All fit either a UK or European pendant light fittings and come with a smart connecting ring to fit the tiers together.
Frame Sizes
As standard, there will always be 10cm difference in the diameters of the shades, whichever Tiered Lampshade Frame System you pick. So for example if you choose a 4 Tiered Lampshade Frame System with the largest frame being 50cm, the others will reduce by 10 cm in diameter each time, so 40cm, 30 cm and 20cm.
Here's the frame tiers and sizes for quick reference:
How does a Tiered Lampshade Frame System work
Each Tiered Lampshade Frame System includes a series of rings, with a bottom 'connection ring' that latches onto the plain ring of the next lampshade tier, using three 'hook arms'. This ensures each layer hangs in place securely. The final shade in the sequence is then made up from two ‘plain rings’
Check out the PDF instructions here on how to put your Tiered Lampshade Frame system together.
Picking the right tiered shade for the space
First of all establish how wide you’d like the top ring of your shade to be. Measuring the floor space below where you want the shade to hang is a handy way to replicate the dimensions of the ceiling.
Try cutting a piece of cardboard the diameter of the shade, then holding this in the space (you might need a second pair of hands and pair of step ladders for this!) Also look at the height of your ceilings and check the maximum drop that will sit comfortably in the room. This will help you decide how many tiers of lampshade you’ll need to make.
Choosing your Stick It Lampshade Making PVC
With plenty of creative options for making shades with our Stick It Lampshade making PVC, it's no different when choosing which type to use with our Tiered Lampshade Frame System, yet this time it's about the preparation, as well as the creative effects.
Pre-cut Stick It Panels
For each diameter of lampshade you can buy a corresponding pre-cut Stick It self-adhesive panel and each one comes in a variety of depths – 150mm, 200mm, 250mm and 300mm - that's dependent on how deep you want your overall tiered lampshade to hang. This also gives you the creativity to play with the dimensions of your tiered lampshade.
All of these can be found in either the ‘you may also like’ section of our website, when you’re viewing each of our Tiered Lampshade Frame System or in our Drum, Cyclinder panels section.
Cutting out your own panels
If you prefer to cut your own panels then we also sell Stick It Lampshade Making PVC by the metre in both white and clear. See our blog post on what to use Clear Lampshade making PVC for here.
By noting the dimensions supplied on the webpage for each Tiered Lampshade Making System, you can then fit the dimensions for each frame, into one of our roll sizes, using the gridlines on the backing paper to cut out each panel at home.
Remember these won’t include the kiss cuts that you find on our pre-cut panels, but you can create your own using a OLFA Rolled Edge Creasing Knife.
Adding shine
Adding a metallic Lampshade Making PVC to the inside of your Tiered Lampshade creates a real sense of luxury, a warm glow and mirrors many styles seen on the high street, at a fraction of the price. Choose from Brushed Metal, Metallic Emboss, Mirror Finish, or Spanish Metallic.
Use the instructions above to work out the amount of Lampshade Making PVC required for each tier and again, cut to size using the gridlines on the backing paper.
Diffusers
To add the ultimate finishing touch to your statement shade why not use a diffuser? Perfect for creating a muted light and hiding the inner working of you tiered shade a diffuser is like the cherry on the cake. For more ideas on what diffusers can be used for and step by step instructions on how to make a fabric diffuser, to match your shade, check out our blog post.
Happy shade making!
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