This was a fun collaboration with resin artist Claudette Woolley (@Ceenoa) who also happens to be my sister. We’re working towards a joint exhibition in May and as we work in different media we wanted to create at least one piece that combined our asthetics in a meaningful way. When I spotted a slightly battered floor lamp at a local recycle center I thought “this could be it”.
I took it home and sent a pic to my sister asking if she could make some moulds of the wooden legs and then cast some resin ones with botanic inclusions. She’s a dab hand at making moulds so no problem there ( at least not for me!)
I’d originally planned to eco print some upcyled cotton sheeting with leaves from my garden but when I saw the beautiful lichen covered twigs set in the new resin legs I was inspired to continue the theme with a handpainted ink forest of lichen covered branches complete with a few nests. Nests feature in some of our individual artwork for this exhibition so I thought it would make a nice link.
The original lampshade attached with velcro to the top and bottom rings and also at the vertical seam joint. This is the only time I’ve seen a lampshade attached this way so decided to try and remove the dent in the shade by taking it off and gently steaming it while it was uncurled and laid flat draped over my ironing board. Could hardly believe it when it worked! This saved remaking the shade as apart from the dent it was in good condition. I gave it a clean and then went in with the ink.
Between us we’ve invested a lot of time and creative energy into this project but are both super happy with the end result as an expression of our differnt media united by a common love of nature. We hope that someone else loves it too and gives it a new home or we’re going to have to have shared custody of it!
I love to see an unloved, no longer used object take on a whole new life and purpose. If you enjoy upcycling as much as I do I’d love to hear about some of your projects.
Lindy Whitton Studio 