A tealight candle lamp themed after a popular young adult book series, "The Chronicles of Narnia." This project does use pages removed from a paperback copy of one of the books in the series. Ideally you will have an old copy that is already falling apart. If not, as suggested a photocopy of pages from the book may suffice. Preferably on parchment style paper for the old printed page look.
Basic Information is loading...
Step 1
Setting 1
Process Method
Laser Cut
Power(%) or Cut Pressure(g)
95
Speed(mm/s)
3
Pass
1
The first step is to download the files and prepare the materials. As designed, this tealight also requires four pages from an old paperback copy of one of the books in the series. Select generally intact pages with no illustrations. Apply one or two thin coats of resin to both sides of each page. Allow the resin to cure as recommended.
Meanwhile, you can cut the panels that make up the lamp. XCS cut files and SVG vector drawings are included. Red denotes a line to cut, blue denote a line to score. The panels interconnect using a row of notches around the edges. Those are sized for 3mm to 3.5mm plywood. Cut the top/bottom file once and the 2 sides file twice. The top vent piece is cut from a thin wood such as a veneer or 1.5mm plywood. It is suggested that the vent be a contrasting color to the body of the lamp.
If desired, after cutting the plywood, apply a finish such as Tung oil to the side of each panel which will be facing outward.
Step 2
In the top panel there is a rounded square cut out with a circular cutout in it. Toss the circular piece, it is scrap. The rounded square should be glued to the top of the bottom panel. There are score lines to help with placement. A standard tealight candle should sit nicely in the circular cutout.
Next we will glue the decorative pieces to the inside of the panels which form the tealight lamp. The vent piece is glued to the underside of the top panel. Be particularly cautious here. The vent needs to be secure enough that there is no risk of it falling down. I have had very good results using Gorilla Glue, however if applied too heavily it will ooze out of the edges leaving visible clumps. If you look closely you can see some of that in my completed project pictures.
Each side panel should receive one of the resin coated pages. You will likely need to trim a bit of the pages to fit them properly. Do not cover any of the notches on the perimeter of the panels.
Step 3
In this step we will assemble the lamp. The side panels will fit smoothly together. Along the edges are alternating notches that will fit the notches on two of the other panels. On one panel apply a dab of wood glue to the bottom of the recessed notches and the backs of the raised notches. There are two panels which will fit that notch pattern. Do the same to those two panels. The panels should fit together to form a U shape (when viewed from above.) Apply the same glue technique to the remaining panel and fit it to the side opposite the first panel. The panels should hold their shape for a few moments, but do not tally here.
Apply the glue technique to all four edges of the top panel and fit it into position. This may take a little finagling. You can use rubber bands and a clamp to hold everything together. The wood glue will set up quickly.
On the bottom panel, there are holes rather than notches. The notches on the bottom edge of all four side panels will fit loosely into those holes. DO NOT glue the bottom in place. The shell of the lamp is designed to lift easily from the base in order to replace or light the tealight candle.
Step 4
Enjoy your tealight lamp. The candle may be replaced or lit simply by lifting the shell off of the base. Note that this project is made of wood. I strongly suggest that you only use the newer battery operated tealight candles in your finished lamp.
The first step is to download the files and prepare the materials. As designed, this tealight also requires four pages from an old paperback copy of one of the books in the series. Select generally intact pages with no illustrations. Apply one or two thin coats of resin to both sides of each page. Allow the resin to cure as recommended.
Meanwhile, you can cut the panels that make up the lamp. XCS cut files and SVG vector drawings are included. Red denotes a line to cut, blue denote a line to score. The panels interconnect using a row of notches around the edges. Those are sized for 3mm to 3.5mm plywood. Cut the top/bottom file once and the 2 sides file twice. The top vent piece is cut from a thin wood such as a veneer or 1.5mm plywood. It is suggested that the vent be a contrasting color to the body of the lamp.
If desired, after cutting the plywood, apply a finish such as Tung oil to the side of each panel which will be facing outward.
In the top panel there is a rounded square cut out with a circular cutout in it. Toss the circular piece, it is scrap. The rounded square should be glued to the top of the bottom panel. There are score lines to help with placement. A standard tealight candle should sit nicely in the circular cutout.
Next we will glue the decorative pieces to the inside of the panels which form the tealight lamp. The vent piece is glued to the underside of the top panel. Be particularly cautious here. The vent needs to be secure enough that there is no risk of it falling down. I have had very good results using Gorilla Glue, however if applied too heavily it will ooze out of the edges leaving visible clumps. If you look closely you can see some of that in my completed project pictures.
Each side panel should receive one of the resin coated pages. You will likely need to trim a bit of the pages to fit them properly. Do not cover any of the notches on the perimeter of the panels.
In this step we will assemble the lamp. The side panels will fit smoothly together. Along the edges are alternating notches that will fit the notches on two of the other panels. On one panel apply a dab of wood glue to the bottom of the recessed notches and the backs of the raised notches. There are two panels which will fit that notch pattern. Do the same to those two panels. The panels should fit together to form a U shape (when viewed from above.) Apply the same glue technique to the remaining panel and fit it to the side opposite the first panel. The panels should hold their shape for a few moments, but do not tally here.
Apply the glue technique to all four edges of the top panel and fit it into position. This may take a little finagling. You can use rubber bands and a clamp to hold everything together. The wood glue will set up quickly.
On the bottom panel, there are holes rather than notches. The notches on the bottom edge of all four side panels will fit loosely into those holes. DO NOT glue the bottom in place. The shell of the lamp is designed to lift easily from the base in order to replace or light the tealight candle.
Enjoy your tealight lamp. The candle may be replaced or lit simply by lifting the shell off of the base. Note that this project is made of wood. I strongly suggest that you only use the newer battery operated tealight candles in your finished lamp.