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Semi- DIY Fillable Lamp
When I hear the term collector two words go through my mind- Louvre and hoarder, neither of which accurately describe me and my rocks and shells. I think the basket’s and giant pickle jars’ worth I’ve gathered over years of beach weekends and vacations falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum between curated and crazy.
I have a large, perfect, spiral shell that a friend found and gave to me on a winter beach walk when I was a teenager, fossils found with my kids, a rock from a small mountain I walked up at high altitude… you get the idea. Natural artifacts are the best souvenirs. (No, I do not collect rocks from national parks or Wonders of the World- just everywhere else.)
I have seen fillable lamps here and there and could have totally made the lamp base out of one of the aforementioned pickle jars for a similar look. But I didn’t since this base was on sale at Target and made a more expensive DIY seem sort of silly.
I used only rocks from Enchanted Rock (Okay, I said I don’t take rocks from state and national parks, but my children didn’t realize this and when we got home from that park, I found a few presents for Mommy in their stuff) and mostly shells from Sea Rim, my childhood beach.
Fillables are easy- no finding the right drill bit for drilling through glass- just unscrew the top and fill with clean shells, rocks, pine cones, fossils, leaves, or whatever. I topped mine with a parchment shade my brother gave me.
Even though I’ve been looking at them through a jar for forever, I’m still impressed with the amount of color. That’s unusual for shells from this area of the Gulf Coast; however, the most colorful and whole were found after hurricanes Katrina and Ike, so that might explain something.
day 365
So that’s the end of this little project and the last of my 365 project pictures of 2011. I am exiting the 365 scene.
