HDPE Lamp Shades

By Trudi Barrow, Sandringham School, St. Albans

This article has been created due to the overwhelming response on social media to this project. Hopefully all questions have been answered here, but don't hesitate to ask more questions in the link at the bottom of the page and we will get back to you. If you are working with HDPE make sure you read the CLEAPSS safety information and model risk assessment first.

CLEAPSS MRAT for HDPE

To start we sandwiched a selection of bottle tops in between two Teflon sheets in a heat press (the kind normally used for T-shirt printing). Over time the bottle tops started to melt and join together. After a while we could fold the 'mixture' together like playdough. This created marbling effects. We were sure to wear heat-proof gloves.

The HDPE bottle tops come in a wide range of colours. Students really enjoyed making marbling combinations to create the effects they wanted.

Take the mixture out of the heat-press still inside the two Teflon sheets.

Place the sheets over a mould. we used a Pyrex measuring cylinder.

Wearing thick heat-proof gloves hold the sheets in place.

Students decided how tight to squeeze depending on their desired effect.

It will harden quickly but remain hot.

We ran it under the cold tap to speed up the cooling process.

Once cooler, the Teflon sheets can be pulled away.

This can be fiddly but the sheets are very robust and can be used many times over.

Once the shade is complete, students sanded the edges, where needed, using wet and dry paper.

We then used a hand drill to make a hole for the light source and the armature to slot into.

The armatures we created were simple MDF structures. This enabled the teaching of marking out accurately with a engineer's square and steel rule, using a tenon saw for the cutting the pieces from a long, pre-cut strip and a coping saw for shaping a MDF base.

We used stock nuts and bolts to hold the armature in place.

We plan to experiment with making HDPE bases in September.

As this was our first time running this scheme, we used simple battery string lights from Amazon. Students chose how best to finish their inside section. Some opted to leave the lights showing and others tucked them behind a bottle top. The battery packs we glued subtly onto the armature or the bases depending on the student's design.

The scheme of work was focused on NATURE and sustainability. Each student created a mood board of imagery connected to their chosen theme. They then had a design drawing lesson based on the concept of SOAR (Sketch, Outline, Annotate, Render). Some of the example theme choices:

to enable any of this to take place we collected 10,000+ bottle tops from the school community. We used a house competition to motivate the students.

Other Projects:

We have experimented with using a panini press and metal cookie-cutters to make keyrings.

We have also flattened the boards as well as possible by leaving them, clamped in between two MDF boards overnight. We then cut out shapes to create coasters. Wet and dry paper smoothed the edges very well.