Sculptural - Customizable - Plywood Lamp

I have been wanting to try and make this for quite some time but just never got around to it, mostly because I couldn't figure out an easy way to make the "hinge". I finally decided to just start the build and see what happens. I'm glad I did because I was able to problem solve my way through it once I was in the middle of it. And I am really pleased with how it turned out.

I wanted to make a lamp that I could control how much light was being given off. Sort of like an analog dimmable light of sorts. If I wanted a lot of light, I could open up the covers but if I only wanted a small amount light like a "night light" I could close the covers up completely. What I didn't count on is the variety of shapes the lamp could be transformed into. There are a ton of variations to opening and closing the covers which results in a sculptural look to the lamp depending on what you choose to do with it. Keep reading if you would like to see how I made it.

*If you make this make sure to only use an LED bulb to minimize heat. An incandescent bulb may be a fire hazard.

3/4" Plywood

1/8 inch Brass Rod

Candelabra Base with Wire Leads

LED Edison Bulb with Candelabra Base

Replacement Lamp Cord with Built in Switch

Table Saw

Cross Cut Sled

Hand Drill

Ruler

Pencil

1/4 inch diameter steel dowel or wood dowel that is about an inch long

Band Saw

Band Saw Circle Cutting Jig

Wood Lathe

Pen Mandrel

Lathe Tools

Sandpaper from 120-600 grit

Glue

Clamps

Bench

Drill Press

Portable Band Saw

Forstner Bits 1-3/8-inch and 7/8-inch

1/8-inch drill bit

1/4-inch drill bit

3/8-inch drill bit

Center Finder

1/2-inch Chisel

File

Hand Screw Clamp

Hot Glue Gun

Blue Tape

Palm Sander

1x30 Belt Sander

I had some 3/4 inch plywood scrap that I used for this project. I cut the plywood into 3x3 inch squares using my table saw. For this project I ended up using nine 3x3 inch squares. I did end up cutting a few extras to experiment with, but the finished lamp has 9 sections.

I used a ruler and a pencil to mark the center of each square. I found the center by placing the ruler diagonally corner to corner in both directions and marking a line. The intersection of those two lines is the center. Then I drilled a 1/4 inch through hole in the center of each square.

I used a circle cutting jig and my band saw to cut all of the 3x3 squares into circles. This jig is not precise, this is really more for removing the excess material. The 1/4-inch steel dowel goes in to the 1/4 center hole in the 3x3 square and the portion of the dowel that sticks out slots into the circle cutting jig to work as a pivot point. Then is just a matter of turning the 3x3 blank while cutting off the excess material.

Next, I sled all of the fresh cut circles onto my pen mandrel which has a 1/4-inch diameter rod. I used the nut that came with pen mandrel to tighten down the plywood circles. I chucked the work piece in to the lathe and tightened the tail stock.

I used a square carbide chisel tipped lathe tool to true up the cylinder. I was not looking for a specific outer diameter I just wanted it all to be the consistent. This didn't take long since I had already removed most of the excess material.

Once I was happy with the clean up on the cylinder, I sanded the entire thing on the lathe. I started with 120 grit sandpaper and went up to 2000 grit which is overkill for this project; sanding up to 400 grit or 600 grit will do just fine.

I need to keep track of which layer was which, so I used a piece of blue painter's tape and marked the sides of it with 5 lines varying in length. While the lathe work did true up the cylinder it is not perfect so switching one layer for another may result in and uneven looking cylinder. This way I figured it would help me keep them in order.

I decided that the base should be a solid block, so I took the 3 bottom blanks and glued them together. I used the pen mandrel as a guide rod to make sure they were aligned and wouldn't shift because of the glue up. I clamped them up and let them dry for 3 hours. Once it was dry, I removed them from the pen mandrel.

*Careful when spreading the glue on the blanks don't get any on the pen mandrel and end up gluing the blocks to the rod.

I order to make room for the bulb I drilled a 1-3/8-inch hole in each of the 5, of what I am going to call the cover pieces, using a Forstner bit chucked up in my drill press. I used a hand screw clamp to hold the piece while I drilled the holes. The holes are not perfectly centered but the don't have to be in the instance close enough is good enough.

Next, I used my center finding jig and marked the center of all the cover pieces. Then I drew two lines on the edge of each of the cover pieces about 1/2-inch from the center line. The third picture shows the two lines they do not go all the way across the side the meet in the center of the side.

I took the pieces over to my portable band saw and at an angle just the lines that are on the outer edge. I do not cut all the way through because of the angle that I have to hold it in. I just start each of the two cuts then I use a small hand saw to finish the cuts. I try to make sure the cut is parallel as best I can or rather, I try to make sure the cut depth is the same. I do this for both cuts.

Then, I take the piece back to the portable band saw and cut the opposite side center line. So, at this point you should have two half cuts that are parallel to the top surface of the cover piece and one through cut that is perpendicular to the surface of the cover piece.

Now it's time to split the piece in two. I take a 1/2-inch chisel and place it in between my two parallel cuts and hammer it in to the side of the plywood (see the last picture which has note pointing to the exact spot of the chisel placement). This should split the piece roughly down the center resulting in two pieces. This splitting creates the overlap that you will need for the "hinge" portion to work. I use a file to smooth out the rough edges.

In order for the hinge to work the outside corner pieces have to be rounded over otherwise they will bind and not work as a hinge. I mark each side of the cover piece with a pencil and sand off the corner. I remove enough material so that the two pieces can open and close.

I an effort to keep better track of the pieces I made additional marks to identify the tops of the cover pieces. The cover pieces will be hinged on a 1/8-inch brass rod. I stacked all the pieces up together and used my drill and a 1/8-inch drill bit to drill a through hole through all of the cover piece hinge sections. My drill wasn't long enough to drill through all 5 layers, so I drilled through a few and removed a few to make room for the drill and drilled through the rest until I was through all 5 layers.

I also had to drill a 1/8-inch hole in the base so I used a cover layer as a template to drill that hole. The hole in the base is about an inch deep.

With all the 1/8-inch holes drilled I did a dry fit to make sure it worked.

I used a piece of 1-1/2-inch PVC and some sandpaper to sand the inside of the cover pieces. I only sanded up to 220 grit on the inside, this was really more of just cleaning up the look than anything else.

At this point I realized I didn't like the open top look of the lamp, so I used one of the extra pieces and cut a top for the lamp. To make this piece I did the same as the others and used my bandsaw to remove most of the material and then my lathe to clean it up. The top piece ended up being slightly smaller, if I were to do this again, I would make sure I turned it on the lathe at the same time as the rest of the pieces so it would look more uniform. The top also gets a 1/8-inch hole that will receive the brass rod.

I used a candelabra size socket and bulb for this lamp. I used a 7/8-inch Fortener bit to drill a 7/8-inch hole in the lamp base to accept candelabra socket. I used a piece of blue painters' tape to mark the depth of the hole.

Next, I drilled a 3/8-inch hole in the lamp base to allow the wiring to come through. The 3/8-inch hole for the wiring aligns with the 1/8 inch hole for the brass rod. To run the socket wires through the hole I used a piece of stiff wire and taped it to the socket wire leads and pulled it through the hole.

In order to secure the candelabra socket to the base I used hot glue. I filled the socket cavity with hot glue and pulled the wires through securing and centering the socket base in place.

This is just another mockup to see how it looks.

I used my palm sander to sand the entire lamp starting with 220 grit and finishing with 400 grit. Next, I sealed the lamp with several coats of Shellac. Since we are dealing with plywood edge grain, I sprayed multiple coats as it tends to soak in very quickly and requires several coats to build up a nice surface.

As for the wiring I had a separate plug with a built-in switch, which I would solder to the candelabra socket wire leads. The socket wire leads are brown, and the plug wires are black. I made sure to individually heat shrink the two wires and then used one large heat shrink tube over the two wires for extra protection.

I used odds and ends that I had laying around for this project but if I were to make this again, I would use a "candelabra replacement make-a-lamp kit" which only requires you to attach the wires to the socket.

This is what the piece looks like closed/open and turned off. Also, for the final assembly I do not glue the brass rod in place, it is a friction fit.

Here is the final piece with the light turned on in all of it many forms. And as you can see there is a ton of variety on what the final piece can look like. This variation was a really nice surprise and not something I had originally thought about. I really enjoyed the sculptural look of the piece. I feel like this is a project that could be improved upon very easily. I can imagine how nice this would look if it were made from Walnut sections or Padauk or various other hard woods. I would think instead of splitting the cover piece into two pieces that splitting them in to 3 pieces would create even more variety. And also, since the brass rod isn't glued in place you can swap out a shorter rod and remove some the layers to create a shorter lamp. This project was a nice surprise for me, I wasn't sure it would work, and I ended really liking the ability to customize and shape the piece to my liking. I hope you find this Instructable helpful and maybe even a bit inspiring.