custom lantern lights

One of our projects this year was to finish a meeting room off the shop for groups to come in, as well as a place for Jeremy to meet with clients. He wanted a rustic theme and I will do a complete post of the room when it is finished. I have designed most of the light fixtures for the room. The first group of lights are old lanterns wired to work with modern electronics. We did not want to change any of the physical features of the lamps so as to preserve their originality.

Most of the lamps only required cleanup with a rag and cleaning solution, but one lamp was so rusted it needed restored. I had found this lamp in the cellar at our house, and it is an old Dietz. I wiped it down, then took steel wool and made it smooth. Next, I sprayed it with Rustoleum polished bronze paint. The final step was to clean the glass.

before

after

To wire the lamps, I used three components: 

1. 18-2 brown lamp wire (2 feet per lamp)
2. Leviton 15-amp 125-volt 2-pole light duty plug
3. Leviton 167 outdoor pin socket

I assembled the lamps by running the wire through the top of the lantern on the backside (most were through the ventilator), down into the globe. The lanterns pull apart so the globe can be removed for cleaning. I stretched the lanterns part, wired the socket and screwed in the light bulb. I closed the lamp and wired in the plug end. All finished! The hardest part is getting the lights to hang straight in the lamp. We purchased wrought iron hooks from Hobby Lobby to hang the lanterns from the wall. (At 50% off, they came to under $3.00 each.) 

Here are some photos of the finished products:

An art-deco lamp. We left this one rustic-looking as it has a nice patina.

A Dietz fire truck lantern.

Dietz large skaters lantern.

Another Dietz large skaters lantern.

Two of the lanterns in the room.

Most of the lanterns came from Jeremy's parents collection that they purchased in Maine several years ago. We enjoy upcycling antiques, or doing the same thing they were intended for, just in a modern way.