What's new
Tiki Forum

Aloha!
Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox! Join our Tiki Community today!

Best type of fabric to use for tiki lamp build?

KonTikiWay

New member
I’m planning to use some of the www.Spoonflower.com fabric for a first-time tiki lamp build but they offer 30 different types of materials (e.g. different weights of cotton, linens, chiffon, cotton/canvas, performance, recycled canvas). I’d like to go with material that allows the right amount of light to pass through but without making the colors look washed out. I will most likely reuse some light diffusing material from an old lamp shade. Can anyone provide some expert insights as to which type of material to go with? I’d like to avoid trial and error approach.
 
I also have some material I got from spoonflower. It's been sitting around for almost 2 years! I'm watching this thread. :)

I know Jayme from @Lagoon of Mystery has made some lamps, I hope he can chime in and make a few suggestions.

Thanks for the post!
 
Depending on the lamp design and look you're going for, you may also want to consider tapa cloth. I bought a bunch of tapa placemats a few years ago for sealing beneath a bartop and used some of the leftovers in a lamp build.

lamp03-jpg.475


Though now seeing some of the prices on ebay, I kind of feel bad for using the tapas as bar build materials.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I would absolutely love to get my hands on Tapa cloth but it's hard to find and what's out there seems very expensive. Plus I want to make my first Tiki lamp with fabric rather than to experiment using the real McCoy. I ended up ordering a yard of "Linen Cotton Canvas" in the pattern Mahjong Tapa 1a Fabric bymuhlenkott.
 
Tapa barkcloth is absolutely great to work with because it's not woven and therefore creates its own light diffusion. As for Spoonflower, I love the site for the wade range of prints available. They have some fantastic tapa-looking prints and a bunch of more modern tiki designs that may or may not incorporate tapa motifs. I haven't tried every Spoonflower fabric option, mind you, but in my experience the biggest issue is that they're all woven fabric. No matter how tight the weave is you're still going to have light find those gaps which results in a clear outline of the light source. I don't *think* a heavier or lighter fabric makes any significant difference. You absolutely have to include a diffusion layer when using any of these fabrics--be that scavenged from an old lamp shade or some cheap fabric interfacing picked up from a sewing supply shop. When I'm looking for lamp fabric, the first thing I do is see if I have any suitable scrap laying around. Failing that, I order the cheapest weight available from Spoonflower. If the lamp is going outdoors then I might consider one of the more heavy weight outdoor-rated fabrics for durability, but fading will still be an issue.

In my limited experience, the type of fabric ordered through Spoonflower has marginal impact on color pop or light flow. That's more dependent on the diffusion backing said fabric. YMMV. Hope this helps.
 
Depending on the lamp design and look you're going for, you may also want to consider tapa cloth. I bought a bunch of tapa placemats a few years ago for sealing beneath a bartop and used some of the leftovers in a lamp build.

lamp03-jpg.475


Though now seeing some of the prices on ebay, I kind of feel bad for using the tapas as bar build materials.
Yeah, tapa is crazy costly and I'd feel incredibly guilty for cutting up a quality showpiece for lamp use. I was fortunate enough to luck into a large piece of Samoan siapo a few years back that had been folded and stored poorly. The folds were ragged and it had holes scattered about--unsuitable for display. It still looked great, so I was able to use large sections of it for lamp builds. I felt no guilt at that at all--if anything, I was rescuing it and giving it a new lease on life.
 
Back
Top