Otherwise the pleats can splay out, and things can get out of whack quickly. Since this paper is much larger than your practice sheet, I suggest using removable tape to hold the pleats in place as you work. Continue to work your way down the paper as you did with the practice paper, mountain-folding and valley-folding the marked lines. To reinforce the paper’s top edge, fold this edge 1″ to the back side so that the shade’s edge will be double-layered. Now that you have successfully completed the practice pleats, repeat Step 1 to measure and mark your paper for the lamp shade. Isn’t that cool? I love shaping these pleats and seeing a sphere emerge (note that the practice sheet produces a quarter-slice of a sphere).Ĥ. Continue to shape the paper by arching the pleats of each row. Holding the paper firmly where marked with stars, pull the center pleats, and then the surrounding pleats, outward in an arc. Then rotate the paper, so it’s horizontal, with the long extending edge positioned at the back.ģ. Use a bone folder to firmly crease the folded edges flat. Starting on the left edge and working across the paper, mountain-fold and then valley-fold the marked lines. Mark 1″ increments for 7″ at the top and bottom edges. In this step, the pleating technique produces stacked pleats all the same size that sit atop one another like pleats in a closed fan. The resulting pleats will overlap, like pleats in a kilt.Ģ. Use a bone folder to crease the folded edges flat.
Then, starting at the top of the paper and working your way down, fold the marked alternating mountain and valley folds in Drawing. Measure and mark the outside edges of the practice paper. One 24″-wide x 37″-long rectangle of thin, crisp, translucent paperġ.Practice paper: One 8½”-wide x 11″-long sheet of copy paper.This project comes to Curbly from the fantastic new book, Modern Paper Crafts by Margaret Van Sicklen. It’s a really cool process with beautiful results. You start this project with a rectangular sheet of paper, pleat it in two different directions, and then, to make a sphere, reshape the pleats by arching them open one row at a time-no cutting involved. Q: What’s more fun than a brightly colored, modern, pleated paper lamp shade?Ī: A brightly colored, modern, pleated paper lamp shade you made yourself!īecause paper is somewhat rigid and requires only minimal interior framing, it is perfect for making lamp shades.