BFG INSPIRED – SOPHIE’S DREAM LAMP

Hello again,

This is a rather special  Foxy Make, it’s the first one that I’ve immediately fallen in love with.

As a child,  I devoured Roald Dahl books, (no such thing as Potter back then) but by the time I was eleven I’d found Melville, Mary Shelly, Tolkien and Hitchcock (yes, I did have nightmares!).

So, the wonderfully illustrated worlds of ‘The BFG’, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, ‘Danny The Champion Of the World’, ‘Matilda’, and who could forget, ‘The Witches’? were soon lost to the bookshelf and piled beneath heftier tomes.

But then, In 2016 the animated movie of the BFG was released. It was incredible, it brought that beautiful story back to life (I guess a twenty-four foot tall giant wasn’t going to stay hidden forever) – Spielberg, Disney and Dahl at their very best and accompanied by music from the incredible John Williams.

I’ve seen it a hundred times (at least), it’s visually stunning and bordering on magical! (The movie even stays pretty true to the book)

I wanted to produce something that was inspired by the movie, something that might even have a little magic of its own, but what to make? I didn’t fancy the prospect of carving out an enormous Flesh Lump Eater, Bone Cruncher or Butcher boy! – so I slept on it….and had a dream!….

Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it – Roald Dahl

So, grab a Snozzcumber, pour yourself a glass of Frobscottle and lets see how I made this.

BFG INSPIRED SOPHIE’S DREAM LAMP

I found an interesting old crate at a local car boot sale last year. I wasn’t sure exactly how old it was until I started to take it apart.

The nails I was pulling out gave me the first clue, they were square and clearly hand forged, but when I got the sides removed I discovered an old label beneath one of the supports – I’d found myself a Victorian bible shipping crate! How cool? The stories this crate could tell, it may even have crossed oceans. 

I removed the nails and have held on to them, I’m going to clean them up and reuse them on a future project, how’s that for FOXY , huh?

Once I had removed the lid and top portion, I was left with a large box section, I’ve kept that section intact. It’s definitely going to come in handy for another Foxy Make some time.

MATERIALS USED:

• • Victorian shipping crate (I’m guessing that you don’t have one!) or salvaged wood of any kind – no more than two cm in depth.
  • Glass flask or bottle with cork stopper
  • Glass cutting drill bit
  • LED battery powered string lights
  • Spray Mount

LET’S GET FOXY – HOW I MADE IT:

1. I didn’t want to lose the weathered look of the wood, so cleaned it with a damp cloth and then gave it a very gentle sanding with 500 grit (fine) sandpaper. When at least one hundred year’s worth of muck had been removed I gave it a coat of wax oil, the wood was super dry and soaked it up gratefully.

2. I then filled a bowl with water and then using my battery powered drill and the glass cutting drill bit, I held the bottle beneath the water and drilled a hole up through the bottom of the bottle. The water keeps the drill bit cool.  Take your time here and let the drill do the work.

3. Now measure the dimensions of you bottle and build a platform for it to stand on. The platform comprises of a tall back board, and three shorter sections which form the two sides and front.

I glued the sections together and clamped them for an hour or so. Then it was time to cut out a base for the bottle to sit in. I wanted the bottle to sit slightly lower than the sides of the platform. So I glued my base in place using blocks beneath until the glue had dried.

4. Time to turn the base upside down. Simply drill a hole through to the top side of the base, this hole forms the channel for the LED lights to pass through.

Next step was to feed the two sets of coloured string lights up through the channel and hot glue the battery packs on to the underside of the base, I used hot glue on the smaller LED light packs and Velcro tape for the larger packs.

All secure. Now, find the hole in your bottle and feed the led lights through in to the bottle. Glue the bottle in place with epoxy or hot glue and allow it to dry.

5. Time to make the label for the dream light. I printed out the words ‘Sophie’s Dream’ in an the font I was happy with and then set about ageing the paper.

To age the paper, I tore out the label shape, took it outside and set fire to the edges with a match. I allowed it to burn up to the shape I had torn. It’s tricky, and you need to extinguish it before it burns too far. I just tapped it on the concrete of my door step to put it out each time.

6. Almost there, still with me? Last but one step is to wax the label  and stick it to the bottle. I used a tiny amount of brown shoe polish on a clean rag and some furniture wax and gently applied it to the entire label.

Put the label face down on some scrap wood and coat evenly with the spray mount, allow the glue to dry a little until it’s tacky and then press the label in to position on the bottle, leave it to dry according to the directions on you particular brand of spray mount.

7. Now, turn off the lights and turn on your lamp, and tell me you just make the most beautiful lamp! 

 

BFG INSPIRED – SOPHIE’S DREAM LAMP IS COMPLETE!

I have made several of these lights for friends and family now, they make excellent night lights for kids – just be careful if you use a glass bottle of course.

There are so many different ways to add your own touch to these lamps. You can customise the labels, use different coloured lights – perhaps even red lights and make yourself a Trogglehumper!! – I wasn’t brave enough to make one of those!

They are so much fun and if you have no idea what I’m talking about, (were you even ever a child?! ha!)  just go see the movie. 

I hope you enjoyed this project, I didn’t film this build, but if you want to check out any of my other creations, then please pop over to my YouTube channel, Making It Out Of The Woods and don’t forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE.

You can also follow me on Instagram or drop me a message on this blog. I’d love to hear from you – do you have a Foxy Make you’d like to see me build?

FOXY TIPS:

*If you don’t have salvaged wood on hand, simply bash your new wood it about a little with a hammer, scratch it up with some screws or stones and then use some dark wood stain to achieve an aged effect.

* If your battery packs are too heavy to use hot glue, get yourself some Velcro tape instead. 

See you soon for another FOXY MAKE and remember folks, 

Stay Foxy! 

Claire x