THE HOPE LANTERN
Born on the shores of Rhode Island, baptized in the waves against the glimmer of the moon, this project had a simple beginning.
There I was, partaking in a nice lantern tour of historic Newport, RI, with my friend. We were given cute little LED lanterns to aid in our saunter down the cobblestone side street and cozy alleyways. The cold air chilled our skin as the tour operators emerged from their home base to reclaim their lanterns. To my friend's horror, they were headed for hers.
She gripped it like a mother unwilling to part with her newborn child, even going as far as to half-heartedly attempt to hide it in her jacket. Alas, her morals betrayed her as it slipped through her fingers and into the cold claws of the guide. The tungsten street lamp shone on one half of her face as she uttered the lament: "I just wanted a night light."
It was then that I vowed to solve this problem with the best Christmas gift ever. Special thanks to Jared for holding the lantern on a string while I took photos in freezing temperatures.
THE
SCAVENGER HUNT
At first, I was just going to buy a similar lantern on the internet, but another idea came to mind: what if I could repurpose an actual hurricane lamp and turn it into the nightlight she was looking for? I knew she liked history, and it would be an undertaking, but I was up to the challenge. The next thing I did was scour nearby antique shops for a cheap lamp.
Before I found my match, I stumbled across a salt and pepper shaker set designed to look like two turkeys. This was key because she had mentioned that this was one of her favorite birds.
Just one store later, I found the perfect lantern in the form of a Ranch Craft desk lamp! This is a hurricane lantern that has already been converted into a lamp. By this time, I decided to go for an LED light setup with the turkey in the center, so I had little use for the lamp paraphernalia. However, the center hole would later prove to be quite useful for mounting the bird. I began the transformation by disassembling the lamp, by cleaning off the grime, and stripping the old, flaking paint.
SPARKLY TOXIC MAKEOVER (PAINT)
Once it was clean and taken apart, I gave the remaining frame a fresh coat of paint. I also found a coincidentally sized lamp base lying around that I would use to house the battery bank. I shuddered at the idea of her having to change the batteries, but I made sure they were at least rechargeable. It would be unwise to gift an environmental science major with disposable batteries, I came to think. Now, the spray paint was a little too thick, and in haste, I attempted to wipe it off. This paint dried a lot faster than the oil-based marine paint I was used to from my maritime work, and I was unpleasantly surprised at the now blotchy appearance. Rather than using turbo toxic paint strippers again, I decided to roll with it and apply another coat. Due to the textured nature of the KRYLON GLITTER BLAST SILVER FLASH (Diabolically awful product) my mistake was hidden in plain sight!
THE FINAL FIT
After all the pieces were staged, it was time for me to begin the arduous process of putting it all together. Because I wanted to bolt the turkey, I had to give it threads. I inserted the hot glue gun into the salt shaker and then stuck a bolt in right after.
When the glue cooled, I had brand new, ready-made threads! Due to the fragile nature of the lights, the turkey's threads, and the fact that installing was comparable to building a ship in a bottle, I had one shot to do it– and no idea if it would work!
IT WORKED!
Several more rounds of painting chips occurred, in addition to filling the base with hot glue. This helped keep the electronics stable and gave me a place to set female threads so the bottom cover could be screwed in. I then travelled to Ace Hardware and picked up a number of cute accessories to add a nice golden accent to the piece.
Once it was all finalized, I sprayed a clearcoat on the lantern to keep the glitter from rubbing off and to help prevent the brass from corroding as quickly. I also let it sit in front of a fan for many hours so that it wouldn't stink as the paint finished curing.
My delivery was successful on the cold shores of Newport. The Lantern of Hope (RI state motto) illuminated the enthralled face of a happy customer.
