For hundreds of years, people have typically used doilies to protect surfaces and add decoration to tables. Often used as floral decoration, doilies were much more common during multi-course dinners. However, these lace beauties can be used to make all sorts of gorgeous, contemporary pieces of home decor, clothing and more. You might have doilies hidden away in your cupboards and closets, but even if you don't, you can find them easily at the thrift store.
In this project below, we explore how to make a spherical hanging lamp using doilies. There's just something so beautiful about incorporating doilies into your lighting! This lamp cover was made with several different doilies, but you could also get great results by using one large doily.
Materials
- Balloon
- Several ace doilies (enough to cover balloon)
- Brush
- Wallpaper glue
- Twine
- Needle
- Scissors
- Tongs
- Copper wire
- Wire clippers
- Bulb with electrical attachment
Instructions
1. Blow up balloon to desired lamp size and shape.

2. Tie the balloon end with twine, and let it dangle. You'll be using this to hang the balloon later so it dries.

3. Coat doilies with wallpaper glue.

4. Cover balloon with doilies.

5. Hang the balloon with doilies to dry overnight.

6. Once the doilies have dried, pop the balloon with a needle.

7. Use tongs to remove the popped balloon.

8. Pop a bulb inside the spherical doily, and secure the opening with copper wire.

9. Cut the excess off with wire clippers, so the copper wire does not show.

10. Hang up and enjoy your new lighting fixture!

Enjoy your beautiful new lamp. Share on Facebook!