DIY Drum Light Shade

I've been working on a playroom for my son, and in an effort to tie the colours together, I made a shade to cover the boring old dome light. I did a Google and Pinterest search for ideas. I followed a pin to this very helpful tutorial for a DIY Drum Lamp Shade. 

I wanted to use what I have so I used cardstock instead of the plexiglass and fabric which the above mentioned tutorial uses. Here's some steps I took.

I had some cross stitch hoops lying around that I bought in the past from Value Village. I used the largest one I had. I used both hoops, one for the top and one for the bottom of the shade.

I have this fabric which has come in handy for various projects. It's actually from a bedskirt! I just tore off the ruffle so I could use the white part. I have a platform bed, so there's no use for a bedskirt. Make sure to iron your fabric before gluing it to the hoop.

Cut a square out of the fabric large enough to fit around and up the sides of the hoop.

Put a bead of hot glue on the top edge of one side of the hoop and pull the fabric up and push into the glue.
I used a paper towel (to prevent finger burns) to push the fabric into the glue and spread it side-to-side a bit. Try to make sure the glue does not drip down as you'll see shadows of it when the light is on!

Next place a bead of glue directly across from the first spot you did and glue down the fabric. Then do the same at the 3 and 9 o'clock spots. Be sure to pull the fabric taut as you're doing this to prevent creases and puckering. Then go all around the rest of the edges and glue down the fabric.

Trim fabric as close to hoop as possible. The next steps I didn't get pictures of, I stopped to make breakfast and forgot to resume taking pictures it seems. I took my yellow cardstock and glued it all along the hoop on the inside. I used 3 sheets and had a small gap so I had to use an additional half-sheet. Which caused an extra seam. Next I glued on the other hoop.

I wanted the drum shade to pull two of the room colours together... yellow - for the reading bench I recently finished for my son (I still have to share that project!), and green - for the 4 Ikea Lack shelves I scored the other day.

I couldn't find my green ribbon which I planned to glue around the top and bottom of the frame so I just used green painters tape, which I plan to cover with actual ribbon in the future. When I put the shade up, it looked like it was missing something. It wasn't nice and I hated the extra seam showing, so I again went online for ideas and found this pin. Basically, you just cut 2-inch long pieces of crepe paper and glue them in a line around the shade and keeping going til you reach the top and everything is covered. This helped camouflage the spacing of the seams a bit.

 

To attach the light to the ceiling fixture, I screwed 3 eye hooks into the inside edge of the hoop at even intervals. I tied a length of fishing line to each hook and then attached a hook to the opposite end of each line, I then latched them onto the screws that hold the dome in place.

 Here's a before and after.

It's not the best results, I think the shade needs more layers of tissue, or perhaps it's just knowing the green showing is painter's tape? I want to get a nice ribbon to complete it. For now it'll do.

I hope it's not girly looking, it's in a boy's playroom afterall!

In case you're wondering, I've left the dome in place covering the bulb. The dome doesn't get hot at all, I have a CFL bulb in there so it's low heat, and the dome is barely warm after the light being on for hours, so I am sure it's all safe.

I like the soft diffused light the best, looking up and seeing the fabric with the light shining through and not that stupid glass dome! 

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