Another birthday and so another project, once more with something of a vintage feel!

For the recipient sewing was an enjoyable past time, this gave me an idea ‘why not upcycle an old sewing machine and make it into a lamp’? I’ve seen plenty of people using old paraffin blow lamps and jamming bulbs in the ends of them which isn’t quite my cup of tea however I thought the natural shape of the sewing machine lends itself well to being an actual lamp as well as providing a quirky hidden compartment for a special message (more on that to come later)!

Before continuing I’ll mention no fully working sewing machines have been used in my project. If it works as is, I don’t see the point in breaking something that works perfectly fine for its intended use to then butcher and use as something else. So only sewing machines destined for the recycling centre have been used.

The first part of the journey was to remove the old wooden base. This was just a couple of nuts and bolts on hinges. Some of the more stubborn nuts required 10 minutes after a squirt of wd40. I then began removing the internals from the base/bed of the main casting which reduced some of the weight of the unit but the next step reduced it vastly, separating part of the horizontal arm . This sounds quite drastic but as you’ll see this is where it instantly begins to look more lamp like (and it gave me another small side project which I’ll write up at a later date).

Using a long bladed hacksaw it took me approx 15 mins to cut through the casting though I now have a handy portable band saw which would make short work of the task. I also filed down the rough edges which in future I’ll use my Dremel.

Weight reduced, it was easier to clean the unit up and polish some of the silver accents. With the arm separated I was also able to test fit an E12 bulb fitting. In keeping with the vintage vibe I bought some braided wiring with a switch rated specifically for lighting. I fed this through the main stem and wired it up. A quick test to see all was safe and working so I turned my attention to a frame. Simple pine I had kicking around, slightly/artificially aged with the use of a little heat.

I predrilled some small holes for screws as I didn’t wish to split the wood. It also ensured I didn’t go off centre and with the length of the screws used this could have easily happened. Due to the weight I think I used 3″ wood screws as well as strong wood glue to keep the frame tight around the bed. Actually the good thing about most old sewing machines is the underside of the bed tends to have its own frame from the cast, suitable to butt upto the wood. In some areas I also joined the base to the wooden frame so its not just a snug fit holding everything in position.

On the outside edge of the frame I used two screws either side, top and bottom of the frame to ensure its held together well. Thinking about the orientation of the lamp and how a sewing machine sits normally I thought it would look good on a desk however space is always a commodity and more importantly when I first came up with the design I imagined it wall mounted and it was imagining it on a wall with a tear drop shaped Edison bulb that motivated me to make it because I liked it so much, I just hoped the recipient would too! As the lamp was intended for a wall I once again insisted on using some good long screws, neatly complementing the brass heads with solid brass cup washers as the screw heads would be forward facing. The only job left to do on the frame was to apply some furniture wax.

After all this it was a case of mixing some strong epoxy to keep the bulb fitting secure. It allowed me a little down time whilst the epoxy set so I wired up the plug and checked again for any issues.

Onto the hidden compartment! To the sewing enthusiasts it wont come as a surprise that I used the slide plates around the throat plate to install a temporary birthday message inside. Initially I was going to use a copper plate and stamp it with the message but I ran out of time however its something I may do on a future lamp. I could certainly see a number of these in a room with a vintage theme as décor and as a functional piece.

Overall I’m pleased with how it turned out and the recipient of the lamp was very pleased too however my only two regrets were 1) not finishing off the message in copper and 2) not finding a way of using the balance wheel to extend and retract the main bulb unit as an additional feature. I really wanted to get those done however it took most nights over a week and a full weekend just to complete as you see here. I’ll probably produce a few more and I may make them available in the shop and yes, all will be pat tested before going on sale if they do. Keep an eye out for future updates to see what I used the off cut for!

I had a small table that has been lingering around the house for a long time. It didn’t really fit with any of the furniture and was somewhat bland anyway. I forget even where it came from. So in an attempt to save it from the skip or recycling centre as they are known these days I figured I would at least try to come to want to keep it.

It started life as an IKEA table/night stand. Plain pine with a vintage style handle. Being flat pack furniture it was a little flimsy so I ensured that every joint was solid by applying some wood glue and screwed it back together. That done I began with distressing it a little with a wire wheel on a drill and burning it a little to darken some areas and encourage the grain to grant some more character. I’m quite fond of colour and I found a can of used paint on a shelf so I began applying it and gave it some time to dry.

I wanted to give it a worn look, to look slightly aged so avoided coating it too thick and after it dried I went back over a little with the wire wheel and some rough graded sandpaper. I was in two minds to really experiment and try some glow in the dark resin in the recesses of the grain but thought better of it.

Once I’d achieved the look I was after I started applying some furniture wax. Just plain wax. As you can see from the images I left the very top part natural as I thought the contrast was good and it would have been far too much teal to have the whole table painted in it.

So there we have it. A shabby chic (i guess) vintage vibe table stand. It’s certainly got a lot more colour than it had. Perhaps it will benefit from another wax and over time the grain will darken too which I think will improve it more. Still undecided on it but…it kept me busy for a night.

A birthday was coming up and I decided on making a gift. I know this person enjoys a glass of wine on occasion to take out into their garden with a good book, a puzzle or just to soak up the sun and relax so I thought what better gift than this.

I’d actually seen it somewhere else before and taken note of the basic shape so I drew up a a template in a notepad, took some standard measurements of your average wine bottle (x2) and two types of glasses so the recipient could enjoy wine or even a bottle of bubbly. The engraving was just a little something extra to mark the occasion!

The main body is just pine, it was previously a set of shelves that I no longer needed so waste not want not! I took my templates and began with cutting the basic shapes, sanding rough edges and was able to position most of it in situ, just to get an idea of what it would look like.

I used a jigsaw for the majority of the cuts, a selection of files to form rounder edges such as for stems of the glasses and for the carrier handle. After this it was mostly sanding everything until it seemed enough, squaring it up as best I could and then a little glue and some long screws to ensure it would hold under the weight of two full bottles. I predrilled all the holes just to ensure it went together well and didnt cause any splits.

The finishing touches were to burn it slightly for which I was able to fire up the blow torch, then sanded it back a little and finally gave it a good wax and buff up.

What you can’t see in the images is a later addition of a keyhole cut and brass plate either side. This allowed it to be mounted to a wall so glasses could be removed effortlessly without having to remove them prior to placing it down.

All in all it worked quite well, it’s perfectly functional at least if could do with a little more aging/distressing. It was a fun build, took a few days over a couple of weeks adn I’d probably make another but look for some better qaulity wood to make it from however the pine despite the thickness worked better than a hard wood due to the weight. Perhaps some ash would be better next time. If you would like one of these making for you drop me a line and we can discuss options or alternatively keep an eye on my shop!