zig zag lamp how to

I wasn't planning on posting a tutorial for this last minute project, so I have no before pictures and no "in the process" pictures.

After alot of painters tape and alot of irritation, I figured out a method that worked for me.

First go around, I printed off a zig zag stencil from here. I thought I would follow this tutorial and translate it to the lamp shade...

well, the shape of the shade made that darn near impossible {although, I do think it would work for a more uniform shade, like a drum shade}.

I realized I was going to have to "free form" it because I didn't want to mark on the shade at all.

I used the seems of the shade as my marker for where I wanted the points to line up.

I tore a piece of painter's tape {I had 1" thickness on hand, so that's what I used} and placed it where I wanted at the angle I thought would work.

I marked where I would need to cut it with a pen, cut it, then repeated.

 I did that the whole way around...it took about 20 minutes total to get it all taped.

Obviously, the angles weren't perfect, but I think for how small the shade is, it's fine.

I also marked off the edges around the top and bottom of the shade with tape b/c I didn't want to paint those.

Then I took it outside, gave it a few light coats of spray paint {Champagne Mist by Rustoleum}

and wallah! I was pretty stoked with how it turned out.

BTW...the lamp itself is painted Rustoleum Gloss White.

A little extra tips, make sure that the tape is pressed down really well before you spray paint. I actually didn't have any paint seep through, which I was pretty pumped about.

Do a few light coats of paint to keep paint from dripping and messing up your shade.

I hope this helps. You are more than welcome to email or comment if you have any questions :)

Stay tuned for a post on all the new changes I made to Addy's room ;)

including this other lamp::

{the inspiration for my small table lamp :)}

ps....if you missed this recipe I posted....check it out....SO yummy :)