Jezra.net

Septa Lamp

During the Summer of 2024, I got hit with "7" fever and needed to make a lot 7 sided things in my wood shop. While this was happening, I was asked by someone to fix their lovely little lamp. After fixing the lamp, the owner lamented that it is difficult to find a nice little lamp.

Woowee, hearing that was oddly inspirational, and I decided I should make a lovely little lamp of my own.

Lovely Little Lamp

a small lamp on a table in a cluttered room I still find it odd that such a plain lamp could be so inspiring.

Designing

lines and angles drawn in a notebook. With a fine pencil and my notebook, I began to take measurements and sketch out an idea of what I wanted.

Cardboard Prototype

a seven sided pyramid of cardboard Once I had an idea of the angles I wanted to use for the top half of the lamp body, I made a prototype of cardboard.

Cutting Pieces

2 sets of pyramids panels cut from wood After setting the table saw to the correct angle for cutting pyramid facets, 2 sets of facets were cut from Black Locust burl. (only one was used for the lamp)

Creative Clamping

pyramids of wood, upside down, with the points in the center of tape rolls, and weights pressing down from the top Clamping and gluing 7 sided pyramids was easy… once I figured out a decent way to actually press the wood together.

Clamping the Bottom Half of the Lamp Body

A seven sided ring of wood, clamped together with tape and string The bottom of the lamp base is a simple ring of wood that will raise the pyramid top.

Gluing the Top and Bottom

pyramid of wood with the point in a tape roll. There is a ring of wood on the base of the pyramid, and clamps are squeezing the ring onto the pyramid More easy clamping :)

Sacraficial Lamp

A crappy broken lamp from the thrift store Despite the $11 price tag on this lamp, I purchased it for less than $5. After disassembling the lamp, I save the bulb socket, cord, and shade.

Body and Wiring Complete

7 sided lamp with a small round lamp shade After finishing the body and wiring, the lamp was tested, and it was a lovely little lamp… but it was missing something. Ahh, yes, a seven sided lamp needs a 7 sided lamp shade! Time to head back to the wood shop.

Base of the Lamp Shade

7 long thin pieces of wood glued together to form a small septagon with extensions reaching out a few inches The septagon in the middle is just slightly larger than the outside of the socket that the bulb fits in. The last of my scraps of Redwood were used to create the lamp shade frame.

Vertical Shade Supports

long skinny pieces of wood glued to the ends of the shade base extensions There was no way for me to property clamp this together, so tape was used to hold it all together as the glue dried.

Adding Shade

7 sided lamp shade frame, with paper glued to the vertical pieces of wood Pieces of plain paper were cut and glued to each open side of the lamp shade frame. It was during this part of the process that I fully grasped just how not perfectly aligned the frame was; and that's Ok, it has personality.

Finished!

7 sided lamp, with a 7 sided lamp shade, in a cluttered room After all the glue was dry, the lamp shade was mounted to the lamp and powered on. A day later, I plugged the lamp into a 'smart' socket so that I can turn the lamp on and off over my home network.

Thanks for reading, and have a septacular day!
jezra