2 Doll Lamps Made From Recycled Materials

       Below are two alternative methods for constructing eighteen inch, doll sized, toy lamps for your American Girl Dollhouses. These lamps do not have working parts such as batteries. Versions here are more for play and can be easily made by a child of nine or ten. 

A finished doll lamp next to a silver photo frame.

Supply List:

• cardboard tubes or toilet roll tubes
• Dixie cups (paper)
• cup cake liners
• paper egg cartons
• wire
• cotton balls
• tiny beads
• white acrylic paint
• white typing paper
• ribbon
• decorative scrapbook paper
• masking tape
• white school glue
• small empty bottles
  
• spools 
• wire

More Methods for Crafting Doll Lamps:

• How to make a dollhouse lamp - Barbie lamp shade - Easy doll table lamp decor by Tanis Gallery
• MyFroggyStuff also makes a Barbie size lamp using beads and paper condiment cups.
• Dollhouse Ceiling Chandelier that really works - Light pendant including battery operated tea lights. No wiring needed. by Loy Dollhouse

Left, Tiny wire armature details on top of our lamp shades are made from cotton batting wire,
parts cut from paper egg cartons and beads. These are glued together and then painted white.
Right, Three finished bottle lamp examples decoupaged in colorful printed papers. The shades
on the left and right are constructed from paper Dixie cups.

The lamp shade above is constructed using an empty masking tape roll. One end is covered with 
cardboard measured to fit, the other end is left open at the bottom. On the far right, you can see
the underside of the lamp shade. Note, the spool used to attach the two parts of the lamp. The
spool hold up the shade and attaches it to the base of the lamp that is made using a paper tube.

Directions for The Cardboard Tube Lamp:

1. Cut the cardboard tube to the size you desire. 
2. Place it on top of a piece of scrap cardboard and trace around the outside of the tube. Cut the circle template out and repeat the step again. Now you have two circles that may be glued to either end of the tube in order to seal it off. 
3. At the top end of the tube glue a sturdy recycled spool.
4. Now decoupage all the pieces glued together with either a figurative or geometric decorative paper.
5. You can also seal this with Mod Podge or white school glue to protect your finished surfaces.
6. Next, decoupage a recycled masking tape tube using the same technique, only cover one end with cardboard, however.
7. Glue the shade onto the base of the cardboard tube lamp.
8. To add details to the top of the shade: clip and cut smooth texture wire, parts of a recycled egg carton and beads.  I used cotton wrapped wire but you may use any wire you have on hand. The lamp fitting and finial are constructed from cardboard and beads, then painted white to match the wire.
9. Paint the bottom of the lamp base to blend with other parts of the lamp design.

The recycled bottle covered in a navy and white diamond print.
The upper bottle neck is covered in a solid red paper. The
lamp shade is an inverted paper cup cover with a cup
cake liner for a "pleated" shade detail.

This lamp version is decoupaged with orange and white paper
details. It will look nice in a mid-century modern doll space.

Left, Here I have masked the parts of my doll lamp with tape.
This helps the paper to stick to the plastic elements. The shade
here is a plastic part recycled from a Pillsbury cinnamon roll 
package. Right, you can see that I have included a paper tube
construction glued to the inside of the lamp shade so that the
bottle neck will fit snuggly in place. All of these parts are 
glued in place in order to give the lamp durability for play.

 Directions for The Recycled Bottle Shaped Lamps:

1. Cover all parts of the lamp, both the body and shade with masking tape.
2. Glue the bottle neck to the inside of the lamp shade. In order to do this your lamp shade must be closed at the upper end. 
3. To lend the lamp strength for play, you may glue a cardboard collar around the parts connecting the shade to the bottle neck. Add additional glue to the inside of the collar. 
4. Decoupage the base of the lamp with a patterned or solid paper. Cover the shade with cloth, paper or cupcake liner for a decorative detail. 
5. I also added faux lampshade fittings to the top of the shade to give these little doll lamps added realistic details. See the directions above.