DIY Leg Lamp from A Christmas Story

First off, this was much more difficult than I had anticipated. However, I am extremely happy with the final product. From start to finish, this took me about a month. I'm happy to share with you all the steps including trials and tribulations I went through while engaged in this project! Enjoy!

Oh and if you're the ambitious type and want to make your own but have questions, feel free to email me: kaylaokeefe@gmail.com

What you will need:
 floor lamp
 tan tights/long sock (knee length)
 duct tape
 paper mache materials (flour, water, newspaper, yellow/orange food coloring)
 spray paint (I used a matte tan)
 sand paper
 lamp shade
 black tassels (for around the shade)
 black pump/high heel
 fishnet stockings
 drill/power saw
 PATIENCE





STEP 1:
   First I put tights on one of my legs. Over that, I put a knee-high sock on. The tights helped me to easily get my foot out of the "cast."
   I had my dad help me duct tape all around my leg, from foot to above the knee. I decided to bend my knee but keeping it straight works too.

After that, I cut a straight line down the duct tape from my knee to my ankle to get my leg out. I taped it back up and was ready to roll.

STEP 2:
 Next, I paper mache'd the whole leg. Using two parts flour one part water, I mixed the paste until it was not too drippy, not too thick. I added some food coloring to make the paste look skin-colored (which ends up not making a difference b/c you will be spray painting it later). I dipped the one-inch strips of newspaper into the paste and placed about 2-3 layers on the leg making sure to make it as smooth a surface as possible. It took about a week to COMPLETELY dry.
     
                                                             Here's me in the process:

STEP 3:
 I found that the leg looked super bumpy when it fully dried. Believe it or not, sandpaper works on dried paper mache. I smoothed it out as best I could using the sandpaper. It certainly wasn't perfect but looked a lot better. And a word to the wise DO NOT go crazy with the sandpaper... I did, and it ended up leaving holes which we then had to fill will calk. Not fun.

                                                       We hung it before we sprayed it:

STEP 4:
 We used matte tan spray paint to completely cover the leg. It took us somewhere between 5-8 applications of it to cover up all the newsprint. It took about a full day to completely dry.

                                                                  Spray painting time!

STEP 5:
 Next, we rewired the floor lamp to accomodate the entire leg without showing any of the pole. Our lamp looked like this:

It had 3 sections that were able to unscrew... we unscrewed all 3 parts and re-screwed the top part (with the lightbulb) to the base.




STEP 6:
 I purchased a lampshade with a harp attached to it. With the lamp we were using, we had to cut slices in the top of the lamp (where you turn it on and where the bulb sits) so the harp would fit on top of the lamp itself. (This was a problem because even as a finished product, the lampshade is a little wobbly.) But it still worked!

                                                      Mine looked something like this:

STEP 7:
 After the leg was completely dry, I cut a pair of tights in half and put each leg on it (to smooth it more) and put the fishnet stocking on overtop. Then, I placed the high heel on the foot to make sure it fit. Once I did that, my dad helped me measure where to drill the hole through the heel to make it stand up through the pole.

                                          ***** WARNING: HARD PART COMING UP*****

Fun fact: Did you know that high heeled shoes have a piece of steel through the arch? Yeah. We didn't know that. So, when we tried drilling a simple hole through the heel, it wouldn't budge. My dad ended up using a hacksaw to cut through the steel (almost ruining the heel itself) and somehow managed to remove it and finally cut a hole through the shoe.

   Cutting the hole through the actual heel of the paper mache foot was much easier. Just TRIPLE CHECK to see that the holes line up.
          (PS sorry I have no pics of that step, it was like 2 a.m. and we were frustrated...)


STEP 8:
 We finally placed the leg with the shoe onto the lamp!

                                               
 STEP 9:
   After tying the stocking together at the top and tucking the end of it into the hole at the top, I placed the lampshade on the pole to see what it looked like...
                                                       
                                                      The ALMOST finished product.

Next is the easy part: I took the shade off, hot glued the tassels to the inside of it and gave it time to dry.

 STEP 10:
 I put the shade back on top, made some last minute adjustments (like hot gluing the foot to the outside wall of the heel) and viola!
                                                                The finished product!

It's not perfect, you can see all the bumps in the leg, but it was so worth it. I made it for my boyfriend (I was somehow able to keep it a secret for so long) and he ended up loving it. It was tough, but I knew that in the end, I'd be extremely happy with the results. And I was! I also think this might be the only DIY for a leg lamp on the internet... I looked everywhere while doing the project and simply couldn't find one helpful site. Hopefully you'll try this project and be just as happy with it as I was! Have fun!