Who: Amy Mucken inspired by Aaron Kramer
What: Recycled Coffee Stirrer Lamp
When: February 2011
Why: I love lamps and light
How (& more): A delicious craft class at Hands-On 3rd
My husband got an 8-week acting job that took him out of the country. This was to be our longest separation to date and I decided that the best way to keep from achingly missing him was the oft-used tactic: distraction distraction distraction. First stop - get back in touch with my crafty-side.
There is a wonderful urban craft center on Melrose in Los Angeles called Hands-On 3rd that offers classes taught by artists to teach back-to-basic workshops. Many of their classes looked delicious to me: Mosaic basics (tiling & grouting!), terrarium building, millinery, and of course sewing, crocheting and knitting. I opted for a six-hour class on how to make a functional lamp out of (mostly) recycled materials.
This class was taught by Aaron Kramer who developed the prototype for the lamp a couple decades earlier. As he states in his book; "Salvage", "If something is thrown away, where does it go in a closed loop planet? He believes there shouldn't be a thing as away or waste. His philosophy for creating sustainable art, while embracing discarded objects for inspiration, is embodied in his motto: "trash is the failure of imagination." When creating his first lamp, he visited a coffee shop and was amazed at how many wooden coffee stirrers there were in the trash. An idea was born.
On the day of our class, Aaron showed up with a bag of used coffee stirrers from Peets Coffee. He recommended we all dig in and use these for our lamps to give it the authentic recycled flavor (and authentic coffee smell).
We were each given a metal frame that Aaron had welded. It was 16" in diameter and would provide the much needed structure for our coffee stirrers.
This is my lamp in our home. My folks were visiting this weekend for The Oscars, and they helped me hang it and gave the obligatory "It really is!" answer all 127 times I looked at it and said "Isn't it beautiful!?".
I am very proud of this lamp, and my husband and I both think it "classes up" our home. I highly recommend taking a class at Hands-On 3rd, or any other urban arts center you can. It's good stuff for the soul.
What: Recycled Coffee Stirrer Lamp
When: February 2011
Why: I love lamps and light
How (& more): A delicious craft class at Hands-On 3rd
My husband got an 8-week acting job that took him out of the country. This was to be our longest separation to date and I decided that the best way to keep from achingly missing him was the oft-used tactic: distraction distraction distraction. First stop - get back in touch with my crafty-side.
There is a wonderful urban craft center on Melrose in Los Angeles called Hands-On 3rd that offers classes taught by artists to teach back-to-basic workshops. Many of their classes looked delicious to me: Mosaic basics (tiling & grouting!), terrarium building, millinery, and of course sewing, crocheting and knitting. I opted for a six-hour class on how to make a functional lamp out of (mostly) recycled materials.
This class was taught by Aaron Kramer who developed the prototype for the lamp a couple decades earlier. As he states in his book; "Salvage", "If something is thrown away, where does it go in a closed loop planet? He believes there shouldn't be a thing as away or waste. His philosophy for creating sustainable art, while embracing discarded objects for inspiration, is embodied in his motto: "trash is the failure of imagination." When creating his first lamp, he visited a coffee shop and was amazed at how many wooden coffee stirrers there were in the trash. An idea was born.
On the day of our class, Aaron showed up with a bag of used coffee stirrers from Peets Coffee. He recommended we all dig in and use these for our lamps to give it the authentic recycled flavor (and authentic coffee smell).
We were each given a metal frame that Aaron had welded. It was 16" in diameter and would provide the much needed structure for our coffee stirrers.
Our job was to take the coffee stirrers and tuck and hook them into a solid(ish) pattern to keep the light in, and create an interesting lamp shade. The class was six hours, and I figured I would be out in three.
This was my lamp after 30 minutes of tucking and bending. I had a long way to go before I was done.
After almost 6 hours of tucking and nesting in the coffee stirrers my hands were hurting and burning. But I loved my product even though I hadn't seen it in action. I asked Aaron at least three times if I was finished, and he would point to big gaps in my pattern that he could stick a finger through and say "almost". Finally I finished and slathered a coat of glue over the whole frame to help the sticks "stick". Aaron supplied us with a $20 cord & bulb from Ikea so all we had to do after the glue dried was hang it up and turn it on. I was very proud, and in hindsight - wish I had worn eye-liner that day.
I am very proud of this lamp, and my husband and I both think it "classes up" our home. I highly recommend taking a class at Hands-On 3rd, or any other urban arts center you can. It's good stuff for the soul.
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