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This week, some of our interesting shading projects have been a set of wooden spindles from an old weaving machine converted into lamps, a large (very large) glass bottle that we converted into a lamp in our workshop, and a carved Chinese figure on a stand. The first thing I generally ask about when finding a replacement or new lampshade for a lamp, is the intended destination of the lamp(s) – formal / informal, bedroom / family room, and whether the customer already has something in mind for a shade style or design.

One of the reasons for the question about “formal / informal” is it gives us some direction on whether we head to our hardback lampshade section or our soft or silk lampshade section.  For each of the three more interesting projects we worked on this week, the character of the lamps, and the intended location was in the informal area, therefore, we headed to the hardback lampshade section.  So, what is a hardback lampshade?

Hardback shades are made by laminating a fabric or paper onto a plastic liner.  Each shade has a top ring and a bottom ring, and the laminated fabric is manufactured to attach to each ring, and then glued on one or more sides, forming the seam.  The inner plastic liner can be translucent or opaque, while the outer, visible fabric can be any type of woven fabric including linen, silk, satin, muslin, burlap or one of many different types of parchments or paper.  Hardback shades are not washable, and over time the plastic liner will yellow with age, distorting the quality of the light produced by the lamp.  However, often, a hardback shade is priced below a “silk” or fabric shade…though there are exceptions.

For the wooden spindles, we chose lampshades made from a beige burlap fabric, in an empire style – they looked fabulous!  For the large glass bottle, we selected a large contemporary drum in a soft eggshell color – the fabric was a fine linen.  And, the Chinese figure left the store with a translucent “European Parchment” paper, also in an empire style.

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