5 Unique Ways to Use Wicker

     Wicker is such a versatile material. It's strong and durable, yet natural and light. It has been used by indigenous cultures for thousands of years for a variety of functions. It adds great accents to your home, and can also be very practical and useful. Here are some unique ways to incorporate wicker into your decor...

1. Wicker Garden Seat

 

So cool...A wicker garden seat, who thought? Can be used indoor and outside, and can support a fully grown adult's weight. Awesome for storage! For instance, use it to stow away the children's toys when guests are over. If you're a snake charmer, you can even use the wicker garden seat to store your most venomous snakes (we jest).

2. Wicker Business Card and Envelope Holders

 

 Tired of acrylic or wood office organizers? Make a statement with these unique items. Like other wicker items, these are durable and long lasting, yet light and rustic. Sure to turn some heads, especially in a well coordinated office.  

3. Rattan Placemat

Bring some Thai Culture into your dining area with this placemat. Rattan wicker is very good at buffering against heat, and will stand up to wear and tear, making it perfect for place settings, centerpiece holders or settings for a buffet table. I've seen a lot of inventive ways to use this item; even placed on a plate stand display alongside decorative balls or flowers on shelving.

 

3. Wicker Tissue Box Holder

Decorative Tissue Box Holders are a great way to keep your decor consistent and to provide a discreet place for your tissues to hide. Great in a rustic or contemporary themed bathroom, living room or sun room! Them come in the tall and long varieties, and fit your standard tissue box.

  3. Wicker Umbrella Holder 

 

A perfect example of when fashion meets function. Umbrella boxes are essential, at least in our rainy filled New England Fall. But why not do it with style? These have all the hallmarks of Rattan Wicker: Durable, water resistant, strong, yet lightweight and beautiful. Rattan is really a perfect material for an umbrella holder, it's breathability gives your umbrellas some circulation to dry out. No detail is overlooked in this particular model, including a metal pan in the bottom to protect the wicker from dripping or umbrella tip scratches.

Of course, all of these wicker items are available on our website at http://www.stamfordshades.com/Store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=60 

Or in the store...plus, we have many more wicker accessories, including napkin holders!

Post pics of your wicker in action on our facebook account! http://www.facebook.com/stamfordshades, we'd love to seem them!  

Building a Lamp

  In this post, our lamp repair and restoration expert, David Yanes, will walk us through what steps he takes to create a custom lamp! Note: Our repairmen are experts, don't try these techniques at home unless you are experienced and have proper safety equipment.

David Yanes at work on our lamp!

Side-note: Our repair department can do wonders with restoring and troubleshooting old light fixtures, creating custom shade pendants, changing hardware finishes and much more!

For this project, we started with a vodka bottle that we wanted to turn into a lamp for a game room.

All repair work starts with a consultation with our repair and restoration experts, in this case David. He'll ask you a few questions like...

Would you like a pipe through the center, or no pipe? 

Are we going to drill a hole? 

What finish hardware are you looking for?

What type of socket? on/off or three way?

I decided that I would like a chrome pipe through the center, drilled hole on the bottom, nickel hardware and a three way nickel socket. David determined that the glass was sound enough to drill a hole through.

Let's look at the basic tools that we use to do a basic wiring like this...

From Left to Right. Phillips and flat head screwdrivers, pliers, wire stripper, needle-nose pliers, wire cutter.

Diamond drill bit is useful for cutting glass, ceramic and porcelain

David starts by drilling the whole for the wire to come through. Safety comes first, always wear eye protection and use water to keep the temperature around the drill area down!

Red marks the spot!

 

 

After David drills the hole, the bottle is cleaned out and prepped for wiring. He starts by finding the right sized parts...

Parts from Left to Right. 18 GA clear wire with plug, nickel pipe, 3-way chrome socket, nickle saddle, nickel vase cap (actually a check ring) , nickel neck, bottle cap (will be converted to a finial)

First he fits the pipe with check ring:

He uses a rubber ring between the metal check ring and the bottle, otherwise tightening may shatter the glass! The other components assemble and fit like a glove! If only every lamp could be this easy. Often we need clever solutions to some tricky mechanical problems...

Vase Cap

Neck

Decorative Nut...this is key! Along with a lock washer it holds the whole assembly in place...no gluing required!

Finished hardware assembly.

Another lock washer, the saddle holds the harp in place.

The bottom socket cap, a portion of the socket shell, is added prior to electrical wiring

Now for the electrical portion:

 Threading the wire through the pipe

Stripping the wire and preparing for the electrician's knot

The next step is critical! There is a special knot in the wire that prevents the wire from coming loose from the socket if the plug or wire was pulled on or stretched. Without this safety measure, a short circuit and/or a fire can result. Watch as David ties the knot like a sailor!

 With the knot complete, David strips the wire, leaving the plastic sheath on the tips...why?

 Don't confuse the positives with the negatives! Hint: With most wires, manufacturers put writing on the portion that connects to the gold screws, and a serrated edged plastic that goes on the silver screw. We used 18 gauge wire for the project.

Once the wire is connected to the socket, David clips the wire leaving a little bit of the plastic coating on the end for a neat and short circuit resistant connection. See why! 

 Finally, we can add the protective chrome shell, and test the connections with a bulb...

Lights up like a charm!

 I also consulted with David to create a custom finial out of the bottle cap.

Finally, I worked with our shading expert and store manager, Wes, to get the perfect shade and harp size for my new lamp!

I would like to thank David Yanes for his efforts to help make this blog post possible! Thank you Wes Fanhani, our Store Manager, for shade selection. And of course, thanks to The Accessory Store for being an awesome place to make your ideas become a reality!

-Aaron Grade