My Version of a Lamp





In this tutorial I am giving directions as to how I made the lamp above. You can change the size of lampshade or change trim etc. but you will have to adjust your figures to fit.

Nothing is written in stone here so change as you wish. I just let my imagination run wild and come up with ideas as I go along and this was my version of the lamp.

You should have a working knowledge of using Image Magick and Gifworks to use this tute.

It is rather simple but I always do things the hard way. It probably could be drawn all in one piece but I'm no expert when it comes to that so this is how I did mine.


Step 1. Get a background and resize it to 180x180 (don't forget to always use an exclamation point after your numbers when resizing, or it will not come out what you put in the box). Now output as a Gif and Single File and take it to Gifworks and use "sphere". You now have to cut some of it off. A little more than half. I ended up with 177x76 after I used Crop. Now Save and jot down the url. Gifworks has short urls and are easy to write the url down rather than cc&p because there are too many to do that and it makes it much easier to composite all the parts when you're ready.

Step 2. Make your POST. Use a clear gif. You can use mine which is 200x200.Clear Gif Resize it to 15x150. Now go to Color and Replace and put in the box #8C7853 (color I used for the post). Again using "GIF and SINGLE FILE" take it to Gifworks and use under Effects - "Cylinder". now save and jot down the url.

Step 3. Using the same 200x200 clear bg you will now make the base. Go to Draw - Ellipse 100,100 35,20 0,360 Fill color #8C7853 Once more it's a Gif, Single File and to Gifworks and Smartcrop and save the url.

Step 4. The Chain. You can find a ready made chain. If you know me by now, I like to make things the hard way but it's mine. LOL Wild imagination at work. I used Annotate at Image Magick and put an exclamation point in the box. Fill Color #8C7853 - font used listed in Image Magick is Activa Bold - Point size 20 Now annotate. I repeated this process until I got a long chain. The only change made is the numbers. The first one was North +0+10 Second number used was North +0 +25 Third was North +0+40 so they were 15 more each time. I did seven of them. Now Output - gif - single file and to Gifworks once more - Smartcrop and save url. Optional: I added to the bottom of the chain an asterik on your keyboard * and it came out like a 5 pointed star but it's so small you can't tell. I used Annotate Point size 23 West +0+110.

You now have a shade, post, base and chain made. Let's put them together.

Go to Image Magick and put in the clear gif 177x252 (left the space at top of it if you want to add something different for the tip part on top of the shade. Ready? Here we go:

1. Composite your first url - the base South +0+0

2. Composite the post South+0+20

3. Now the chain - composite North +20+65.

4. Composite your shade North +0+25

5. Put a tip on top. I used the symbol @ using Annotate - Point Size 18 - Activa Bold font - North +5+23 - Fill Color #8C7853

6. Now the trim. You can use a scalloped bar if you can find one. I didn't take the time to do that. Again Wild Lee was at it again using my Wild imagination. LOL I used a dingbat - Annotate - letter o Scroll down to fonts and choose PC Ornaments. Point size 40 color to go with your shade. I used on mine #663366. Now VERY important. You must go to Rotate and put in 270 (dingbats are in another direction so I wanted to turn it to have the points down). Now one at a time you do these moving just the numbers to place one next to each other. First one is Northwest +26+118 Second one is Northwest +52+118 Third is Northwest +78+118. They are 26 difference with each one on the first number. The second number stays the same. So you do this till you have 7 of them across. If you use a different style then you have to adjust the numbers. The letter p is another nice one.


Well - that's it. Hope you will try one. I'd love to hear your comments. As I've said before, I'm no expert but have lots of fun with this LBB. Check my other tutes and pages. This is my 14th tutorial. Don't know how many more there will be. Once I start getting bored, watch out, here comes another Wild idea. LOL

Published August 30, 2002

NOTE: After I put this tute together I found something out that you can use Arc for the shade. I did not know how to use Arc but Image Magick had a problem with arc a while back and today it's working. So I went to I.M. to try it out for the Easter baskets I made and put in the co-ords for the handle. Well I forgot to use Stroke Color and left white in Fill Color and there was a lampshade. LOL Of course I had to adjust the numbers to make it shorter and after playing with it for a bit I came up with a size pretty much as I have it using a sphere. I will only give the numbers I used because it is a bit smaller and the trim for the shade above will not work for this unless you want to make the adjustments. But for making an Arc - use 175,100 15,100 80,75 (it will be 171 for width of shade)Depending on the bg you use don't know if it will look the same. I like the sphere because it gives it that rounded look. You decide.

Note: Since making this tute I came up with another style lampshade and this is what it looks like.




To make this style go to Draw - Polygon clear gif of 200x200: 60,60 30,150 180,150 150,60 - color white and then fill in with a background or just use a plain color. I added a line at the top and bottom of the frame using the Draw and Line. Numbers used: 58,60 151,60 Stroke width 5 use a Fill and Stroke Color. For bottom of shade I used 31,150 182,150. Use trim to take off the excess clear background and then you can use the rest of the above directions to finish it off. Just completed a page of these lamps. Click on my Main Index to see the new page.

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