Disclaimer: Only BAD books were harmed in the making of this tutorial.

Holy smokes!  Did you see all the talent over at So You Think You're Crafty???  I loved it! 

But also not.  I mean, talented other people makes things more difficult for me, right?  I hate it when you love the competition...

And by now you know which entry was mine.  I'm so glad you liked it!  

Unfortunately,

I do not have a full tutorial for you today.  

BUT, 

I have an almost full tutorial.  

Due to circumstances beyond my control, photo taking was set aside in the interest of survival.  (Remember back here when I gave you the quiz?  Well, the correct answer was ALL OF THE ABOVE.)  Honestly, this project was the embodiment of MURPHY'S LAW.  

Alright, here we go.

You will need:

1.  Old books.  I think it would be super super cute to do this with old picture books for a kid's room or play room.  Right??

2.  A heavy duty drill.  (My dad bought me that one for Valentine's Day.  He knows me so well...)

3.  BIG drill bits.

4.  Some scrap wood cut to the same size as your largest book.

5.  Small squares of scrap wood - about 2 inches square, 1 inch depth.  You need 4 all the same size.

6.  Heavy duty glue - I used Gorilla Epoxy.

7.  Mod Podge - MATTE.

8.  A phone book.  No, just kidding.  I mean, that IS a phone book.  But really all you need is something to place underneath the books as you drill them to protect the surface as well as the drill bit.

9.  Make a lamp kit.  You can get this at your hardware store for about 5 bucks - ish.

10.  Lamp harp.  (This depends on the type of shade you have.)

11.  Threaded lamp rod.  (my pack came with a twist on connector - so you can extend the rod if you need to.)

NOT PICTURED:
ruler
pencil
paint/paintbrush
plastic knife or spoon


First things first.  Stack your books and measure them to get the height you want.  This way you'll know exactly how many books you need.

(please ignore my ghetto yard stick which was purchased for 25 cents at the thrift store.  Pretend it is a pretty tape measure.)

Start with your base.  You may or may not need to sand your wood first, depending on the scrap you use.

Take a straight edge or ruler and connect the corners diagonally. 

Determine which drill bit you will need to use.  Pull out the little connector from the threaded rod kit, OR if you won't be using the connector, pull out the threaded rod.

Just compare the drill bits to the largest piece that will be going through the hole.

Use this drill bit and drill a hole right where the lines intersect.

(See the phonebook underneath?)

Take all of your books and stack them up.  Flip them around, turn them over, put them off-center... try out a few different layouts.  Mix up colors.  Just see what you like best.  When you're finished and have a look you like, take lots of pictures so you'll remember what order you have the books in and how you have them set up.  Your largest book needs to go on the bottom.

Put the base on TOP of the largest book, with the book sticking out a little.

Stick your pencil through the hole to mark where you will drill on the bottom book.

All marked up.

Drill the hole.  All the way through.  It may take some finagling.  Don't give up.

Ah, yes.  Right about now there may be a quick trip to the ER after you slice your index finger open with the drill bit which is AMAZINGLY sharp.  Don't worry - no stitches, just a tetanus shot.

Line up your other books and mark with a pencil where you want to drill.  Not all of the holes will be in the center.

Mix up some paint.  (I didn't have brown so I mixed black and orange.)

Paint your base and each of the little squares.

Use the epoxy and a plastic knife/spoon or popsicle stick to attach the squares to the corners of the base for feet.  Line them up against the edges.

Poke your threaded rod through the hole.  Slide the washer up against the bottom of the base.  Screw on two nuts - tighten them both up against the washer.  The second nut will lock them both in place.  (ps - all the washers and nuts SHOULD come with the kits, but double check to make sure.)

Stand the base up and slather some epoxy on the top of the base.  Slide your largest book down the rod and smoosh up against the epoxy.

Round about here I started taking less pictures.

Continue threading your books onto the rod in the correct order.  Turn and twist them the way you want them to sit and spread epoxy on the book beneath only where the top book will rest.  Smoosh them down tight as you go.

Now, slide a washer down against the last book.  Slide two nuts down on top of this and screw down tightly.  You will need to squish the books down WITH ALL YOUR WEIGHT.  It's helpful if you have another person helping with step - but I didn't.  You really, really need to squish those books down and tighten the buts.  I used a pliers to really tighten them down.

(Hence the calluses I talked about earlier...)

Now, slide the little washer cover over the nuts.  (This should also be in your kit).

When all the books are smooshed down, use your mod podge and paint around the edges of the pages.  This will help them to stay smooth and tight together.

Now, if you need a harp, slide that down.  I actually ended up NOT needing it, because I used a shade with a harp built in.

Thread the cord up from the bottom of the threaded rod all the way out the top.

Here is where I stopped taking pictures altogether.

When you get to this point, you will need to read the instructions on your lamp kit CAREFULLY.  Or consult your father.  If he knows about electricity.  That's what I did.  

Actually, now is when I took the lamp over to my parents house for tips.  And directly after that is when I slipped on the ice on the way back to the car, throwing my knee out of joint and DROPPING THE LAMP.  You will probably want to skip that part of the tutorial.  (Don't worry, the knee's ok.  I actually have ongoing issues with it popping in and out, so it's kind of natural.)

Sooooo, here's when you'll reassemble and fix the lamp, which is much easier than expected, thank goodness.

Ahem.  Back on track.  Follow the instructions for attaching the light socket to the cord.  You will need to attach the bare wires at the end of the cord up through the bottom of the socket, and screw them into the receptors.  The socket then simply screws down onto the threaded rod.

Now is when I electrocuted myself testing to see if I did it right.  No, I'm not just being dramatic.  I actually screamed.  And it was during naptime!

When you've got all the wiring figured out and it's all good, you can move on to the shade.

At this point I was up against the wire, so lack of pictures actually results from panic and rush to meat the deadline.

Take some tan paint and brown paint.  Water them down dramatically.  Use a normal kitchen sponge to paint a cross hatch pattern with the watered down paint onto the shade.  Don't make the color uniform.  This will make the shade looked aged and worn.  If you're like me and get your lamp shade at the thrift store, this deliberate aging will cover up the actual aging.  Phew!

Take some pages from an old book.  Cut them into spirals.  Roll the spirals up, starting with the OUTSIDE of the spiral.  Use hot glue to glue periodically and make the flowers more stable.  The flowers along the top are one spiral big, while the roses on the bottom are two spirals glue together so they are a bit larger.

To cover up the rod that shows above the books, I cut a tube from aluminum foil to size.  I used mod podge to roll on part of a book page.  (I slid this on BEFORE screwing on the socket.)  The front of this tube now says "This too shall pass" within the text of the book page.  It's awesome.  I did it unintentionally, but I love it.  My mom said that to me ALL the time through my teenage years (and she was right, too.)

So was screwing the side of my finger, getting a tetanus shot, popping my knee out of joint, RE-making the lamp after dropping it, zapping myself with electricity, causing crazy huge calluses on my fingers and numerous glue gun burns 

WORTH IT???

What do you think?

A lamp that encompasses my love of reading, a cozy feeling, some delicate paper flowers and an artistic flair.  

With some seriously cool titles.  Like "There's No Place Like Home" and "Miss Manners Guide to Etiquette."  And, my two personal favorites, "I Don't Know How She Does It" and "Nobody's Perfect."

I could use some hot chocolate now.

*Be sure to check just below for all the fun parties I link to!