Floating Lamp

I made this lamp as a gift to my brother. I found this design from the following YouTube video. The plan he gives outlines a simplified version of the original lamp that he made. I preferred the look of the original design, which had rounded corners and I believe separate pieces for the edges on the upper wood section.

The mold for the concrete bottom section was made with laminated particle board. To achieve the 5/16 inch round-over for the concrete edges, I pressed modeling clay into the edges and formed the round-over by scraping a 5/8 inch dowel along it. This left a very smooth and well feathered surface. I then applied Vaseline to the bare wood surfaces, clay, and plastic. I am not sure if this is a great approach though as I had the impression it stained the concrete. If I were to make the lamp again, I would try without the Vaseline. Also, in the next section of photos, you can see bubbles that were still present in the edge after tapping the sides with a soft mallet. It's definitely best to use a vibrating table or concrete vibrator during the concrete pour. The concrete used was Quikrete Vinyl Concrete Patcher. It comes in a small 10lb tub. I recommend not mixing it in the tub they give you, but something larger. Also, save a small amount (a few tablespoons) in case you need to do some repair work.

For the top section, I chose to use mahogany and separate pieces for the edges just to have more symmetry. Gluing two sides onto each corner element at a time with a 90 degree jig ensured that everything would align correctly. This section was then glued to the concrete using a two part epoxy.

This is the lamp after applying boiled linseed oil. I used a cloth covered twisted lamp wire that had an inline dimer. The lamp was a warm white LED A19.