Throwing a Lamp Base that Glows with an EXTRA Pottery Shade

I've made a clay lamp base before, but this time I'm going all in. I'm making the base and shade. The form is traditional, but I have a challenge. How am I going to make it glow properly when it's all ceramic? I've got an idea, so let's see how this works out. My clay has been sitting around for a while and it's gotten super firm, so I throw it on the ground a few times. This will pre-soften the clay before wedging. Of course, if your clay has dried out, you're going to have to hydrate it. I'm using 3 kilos of porcelain for the shade. I'm using porcelain more for its whiteness. I'm not going to be able to fire high enough to get much translucency. So I centre the clay. It needs to have a base and it needs to be solid but not too thick. And now that the clay is centred, I can flatten the top. And I push down into the clay. And I open out with a flat base. I start to form the walls. And I compress across the base. I bring up the walls. And I pull up the walls to the final height. I want the outside of the shade to be smooth. I straighten the walls with a rib and I finish the rim with a chamois. I lightly trim around the base and I set aside to dry to leather hard. I'll wire through a little later. Now for the base. I centre 3 kilos of gritty clay. And after the porcelain, I'm happy for the clay to have a bit of tooth. Once centred, I flatten the top of the clay. And now I push down into the clay, right through to the bat. I open out and I start to form the walls. I bring up the walls, pulling up the clay to its final height. Now I start to shape. I'm bringing in the neck. The neck will elevate the shade. And now I collar in. And now I smooth with a rib. And I bring the neck in a little more. The neck's gotten a little uneven, so I trim. And I push the rim inwards to create a ledge for the housing. And then I lightly trim around the base and set aside to dry to leather hard. I'll wire through a little later. Now that my pieces are leather hard, I'm ready to trim the shade. I start with the hole that the lamp housing needs to fit in. And then I lay out a template I've made to cut away the supports. I cut around these shapes. This is creating a frame which is going to sit on the base. This design should allow for light to spill out through the cutouts. I'm a bit wary of cutting through porcelain like this. I would use a less pernickety clay for this. So I remove all the cutaway pieces. And I smooth over the cutouts. I set aside to dry fully. So the base is pretty simple in comparison. I just smooth the surface a little. And then I cut a hole at the base for the cable. Now I upend the base. And I just make the cutout the right size. That is the right size for the lamp housing. I've calculated the shrinkage. And now I can set aside to dry fully. I bisque fire. And then I glaze the base with a brush-on golden glaze. It's kind of a brassy gold. And on the shade, I'm using a golden color underglaze. I give it three coats. The color is going to be fairly solid. But there'll be some hint of the brush strokes. I want this light texture. So the shade looks like woven cloth. It's just the underglaze. I'm not going to glaze it. And I'm going to leave the inside white for the light to bounce off the surfaces. And then I glaze fire. So it's time to assemble. I start with the cord and housing. This is a really simple light kit. I take the cord and push the housing through the opening in the base. And then I put the shade on top. So this is where it gets kind of awkward. I screw on the gasket that secures the shade to the base. And then I can just guide the cord through the hole I made at the base. I screw in a light bulb. And I switch on my light. So my plans worked. Light spills out onto the golden glaze. And light shoots out from the top. The white interior is doing its job. And the cutout pattern in the lampshade looks great. For more lamp goodness, check out my ceramic lamp base video. And happy potting.