Costume Lamps

Okay, I know this sounds weird but it's not. In my daily roadtrip down the information highway, I came across a novel and fun idea that I think could be adapted to fit everyone's resources. If you have not yet seen them, look for lingerie lamps. Buy an inexpensive piece of lingerie, something pretty and semi-sheer, and turn it into a decorative lighting piece for the bedroom. It is accomplished rather simply. Buy an inexpensive woman's torso form. Ebay is full of them. Find a pretty piece of lingerie; a teddy or camisole would work wonderfully. Soak the lingerie in a stiffening solution. These are available at most fabric stores. Allow it to dry on the form, so that it retains the shape of the body. The lingerie then becomes your lamp shade! Add embellishments like fringe at the bottom, jewel accents, ribbons, etc. For a hanging lamp, suspend the lingerie from a decorative clothes hanger that you attach the lighting kit to. Voila! You have created a useful conversation piece for far less than you would pay for a boring, ready-made light!

It occurred to me that, if you can do this with lingerie with such delightful results, why not take that idea and use it with other pieces of clothing. Every year we buy our children Halloween costumes that they wear once. When we buy those costumes, we are already choosing something that our child is interested in. Why not use it in their room decor by making a lamp or sculpture out of it? I can see lovely little fairy or angel costumes as nightlights or even as hanging sculptures swaying ever so gently above a sleepy little girl. What about the boys? How much fun would it be to have a knight standing guard at the door of his room, or a ninja lamp to light the dark corners?

Some creative thinking on forms to use to shape the stiffening costumes might be in order, but in all, I think the effort will be well worth it. My thought is, we all have the costumes packed away somewhere, anyway. Why not pull one out and give it a try?