A painted lampshade - Part 3 - Preparing to paint

Part 3 - Preparing to Paint

With your design finalised, it's time to start thinking about how exactly you will translate this onto your lampshade.

Getting Ready

You Will Need:

• A lampshade
• A card lampshade is best
• Fabric tape measure
• Pencil
• I recommend a 2H pencil for the lightest marks

Step 1

Pick up your lampshade and get a feel for how you might want to hold it when painting it - you want to try and hold the lampshade by its frame as much as you can while painting. Familiarise yourself with your design and start to envision which element you'll start with and how you'll place it.

Step 2

It's a good idea to measure out key placements within your design using a fabric tape measure and a 2H pencil. This could include the size and placement of a repeat pattern such as a scallop. To do this, you measure the diameter of the area you are painting, then divide it by the width you want the motif to be; a scallop in this instance. It may also be worth marking the height.

Step 3

Even if you're painting free-hand, it can still be helpful to measure the parameters of different sections within your design to ensure they remain consistent all the way around your lampshade.

Step 4

It can be helpful to work out which colours you are painting first; sometimes certain elements of a design dictate others so you will need to paint these at the start.