I bought a few of these at the Dollar Store:
But they’re kind of ugly, so I thought I’d make them prettier with my mad Glowforge skilz. On my third try (#1 was cardboard and #2 was draftboard), this is what I ended up with:
My original plan was to use plywood, but the cheap LED bulbs are too dim to light the room up just through the cracks, so I ended up going with acrylic. I used clear acrylic on the top and back to let more light through, but it’s still pretty dim. I’m hoping it will seem brighter in the middle of the night when my eyes aren’t in “daytime” mode.
Here’s the SVG, if you want to try it.
Notes:
- The shade just sits down over the fixture for easy removal. (Not sure WHY, exactly, since you can’t change the bulb in this model…
)
- The bottom opening has two notches that accommodate this particular model’s shape and keep it correctly aligned. YMMV with other fixtures.
- The four rings are meant to be glued together and adhered around the opening in the bottom of the shade, flat side against the back, to reduce wobble when it’s sitting on the fixture. If you have one with an incandescent bulb, you might not want to use all 4. (Assuming it fits at all!)
- The fit of the parts is a little loose. I’m going to pretend I meant for it to be that way, to avoid stressing the acrylic. Even though I originally designed it for wood.
- When cut from acrylic, you may have to individually pop out each little heart-shaped hole. Put on a good audiobook and get a cup of coffee first, and it won’t seem quite as tedious.
Enjoy!