Jug Table Lamp

Jug Table Lamp – A glass or china jug can make a most shapely and attractive base for a table lamp and fashioning this will give you endless pleasure. Select your jug, with an eye to its artistic appearance and follow the instructions.

First of all, you must find a cork that fits the jug really tightly and see that this is in perfect condition in every way. Drill a hole through the centre of the cork and push a threaded nipple through this, making sure that it fits very snugly. A little trial will be needed to see that this thread is quite rigid and tight. To further secure, run a hexagon nit to the top and bottom of the cork. The threaded nipple is, of course, hollow, to take the wire, as illustrated.

Now you will need to drill a hole near the base of the jug to take the wiring. This should be about 2 in. from the bottom of the jug and be lined with a rubber grommet. Drill the hole by the process described, using plenty of turpentine and the putty dam. When the hole is complete, push the end of your wire through the hole and keep on feeding it up the jug until the ends come through the neck. You may have to fish for it with the help of a piece of bent wire with a hooked end. It is advisable to put clean dry sand in the bottom of the jug, covering about I in. deep, to keep the jug’s weight at the bottom.

Assemble the socket details and thread the wire up the nipple and attach it to the screws in the usual manner. Screw the socket on to the nipple and the cork and this fitting should now be perfectly rigid. The jug can be decorated to suit your own taste, this can be done with oil paints.

There are several types of socket fittings for table lamps, that can be bought quite cheaply. These have different kinds of switches such as “push in”, “twist”, “barrel”, etc. Do not attempt to make the socket, this is highly skilled precision work and can be only rendered safe by the concentrated tests that these fittings are subjected to.