DIY project

Rose Hughes’ outdoor lamps are super stylish and surprisingly easy to make.

Hurricane lanterns.

1 Centre the glass on the 2 smaller pieces, mark the circle. Drill a hole with a large drill bit. Using the jigsaw and cutting to the outside of the pencil line, cut out the circle on both. Centre, mark and cut the same hole out of one of the large pieces. Sand well.

2 Bottom: centre a small cut-out piece to a solid 180mm square. Top: centre and join large and small cut out pieces. Glue and screw pieces together and allow to dry. Fill screw holes and sand when dry.

3 Mark the same circle for the handle holder, with a second line 12mm outside the first. Cut out carefully with the jigsaw. Sand well. Centre, glue and clamp this piece to the other side of the top. Sand well. The glass should slide through the top easily.

4 Undercoat both pieces with Resene Quick Dry Primer. Allow to dry. Top coat. I used a test pot in White.

5 Cut 4 lengths of aluminium corner at 230mm. Using the clamps, assemble, with the base, corner brackets and top in place. Mark the angles on the aluminium strip so that the top and bottom corners meet. Cut with tin snips or a hack saw.

6 Using a metal bit, drill through each cross brace and corner bracket in the upper and lower corners. Insert screws. Cut a piece of #8 wire to length, bend to curve in the centre and bend right angles at each end. Drill holes in each side of the top circle and insert the wire.