Hello AT,
For our annual Christmas vacation home improvement project, my sister and I are going to paint or dye translucent paper lamp shades from Ikea to match colors in her living room. Any hints about what to use to get rich, consistent color on the shades? They're handmade paper, I think, from the Ikea Orgel series.
Thanks! Jeff
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"Design Master" is a product available at floral supply stores. Design for silks, paper, and live plant products as well as fabric, styrofoam, virtually anything typical paint would ruin or melt...Almost infinate colors as well.
I would have thought an airbrush and airbrush paint would be the best way to go to get consistent coverage. You can buy quite cheap airbrushes for about 20 quid here in the UK - that's about $40 US, I think.
Another option would be to forget painting and stick transluscent coloured tissue paper onto the shades.
Kool-aid works quite well for dying yarn. The colors are so happy and your house smells frooty afterwards.
Watercolor paints?
Dunk them in one of the many Dylon use-at-home dyes that are available at craft/sewing places. They have one kind of dye specifically for wood and paper craft items. And try one shade as a sample, to be sure the dye takes evenly/the shades don't disintegrate after their dye bath. See the URL with this entry.
I would not recommend watercolour paints. Difficult to get even and fades easily.
I actually just did a whole Chinese paper lantern with straight up liquid water color. I'd never used it before but it comes in a million colors and looks like food coloring. It gives a really intense saturation, is cheap, and goes on evenly since it is undiluted. I was really happy with the result. It puckered a little at first but dried tight again.
I would second the suggestion for tissue paper - use watered down elmer's glue, brush it on, and then stick the paper on. It will be easier and I think you have less chance of ruining the shades. Good luck!
We used regular cheap watercolor paints to do ours and they weren't completely uniform when finished but we liked that -- they had a beautiful handmade look when we were done.
We've had them for two years and they are slightly faded now but it would be easy to give them refresher coat.
Thanks for all the tips, everybody! We're weighing options and trying to figure out what's available in Kansas (her home) since I can't fly with liquids purchased here. I'll let you know what we choose and how it goes when I get home.
Awesome ideas everybody. Just what I was looking for.
I just got a bunch of electric-lit paper lanterns at Ikea tonight. Do you have any ideas for hanging them from a vaulted popcorn ceiling? Are ceiling hooks my only option? I rent, and am hesitant to fill the ceiling with holes. I would like to cover the ceiling with up to dozens of lanterns! I have 8 already, and would like to light them all too if possible. Any ideas? Email welcome too, jordan743@gmail.com
David