Formers

 I now have two lampshade formers, so I can go into mass production.

The two 'nipples' are halves of wine bottle corks, smeared in silicone and they aid in positioning of the resined cloth. Hay suggested I make a bra for then. 

I drilled a small hole into the bottom of the jug I'm using to contain the resin mold in order to aid removal of the silicone former. It reduces suction and enables me to squirt some cooking oil spray in to lubricate the resin/silicone interface. I'll need to bung the hole with something before using the mold again.

Had a look at the original shade yesterday and it's much more rigid than my copies. It must be the thickness of the cloth and I'm going to have to make a couple of shades with heavier material. We have an old pair of cream curtains that I might try to use.

Had a go at saving the original Georgia Jacob shade using Ford Tango spray paint, which facilitates an even graduation of colour. Much better, but there's still room for improvement, as it still looks rather blotchy when a light is shone through it.

The Mk IV, which is nothing more than a slightly better proportioned Mk III, is nearly finished, but I can't make up my mind whether to go for another LED display stand, or go for a full lamp base with an LED bulb. A bulb would certainly enable it to be used for illumination, rather than merely low-level mood lighting.

It's so well proportioned that it will stand up on its own, without the need for a coaster-shaped base to spread the weight, which is negligible. I do, however, need to pay attention to a good tool to cut the circular hole in the base, whether that be for a light fitting or merely for an LED display stand to shine through - a punch of some description, perhaps, like a leatherwork hole punch, but much bigger, so as to give crisp, clean edges to any hole. Whatever I use has to be capable of punching holes up to 3cm in diameter.

Stop Press: went for the deep coaster base to make a matching pair and, given its similarity to the Mk III, I'm calling it the Mk III.V. 

Here you can see the Mk III (foreground desk) and the Mk III.V (background sideboard).

The next attempt, the Mk IV, will be an asymmetric design, something along the lines of the following:

Getting the rear to front fall might prove a tad difficult, but I'll give it a whirl. Once that has been mastered I'll go for the ultimate - a double shade with one, normal sized, central vase and a shorter outer vase that uses a circular shaped cloth, like a skirt, as in the following photo. These are the most expensive of the Geogia Jacob range. These will require a former with many more flutes than the standard 12.

I somehow get the impression I'm boring you...