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The Leg Lamp.... for outside....


mdhunsche

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So I've found it's more fun to create my own displays rather then buying the pre-manufactured stuff lately... that and I don't want to drop $300 on a real leg lamp because I'm cheap, so I decided this year to make my own. Most of these materials I had lying around, so in all it only cost me about $20 to make this, but if you had to buy everything to do the same thing I'd guess it's under $70.

Materials:
2"x4"x8' - x2 (about $4)
2'x4' - 1/4 inch panel (about $5)
2'x4' - 1/2 inch panel (about $5)
1"x2"x8' - 2 - ($4)
100 string mini lights ($3)
24"x48" acrylic panel ($15)
Yellow can of spray paint ($2)
Tan can of spray paint ($2)
Black paint marker ($2)
Brown paint marker ($2)
Screws ($5)

I took my 1/4 inch panel and traced out a silhouette of the Leg Lamp... this is obviously the tricky part, but I have a projector I hooked up to my computer and displayed an image of the lamp, traced it, and voila. Though I think it could be done by hand pretty easily as well. Using a jigsaw I cut out the silhouette. Then on the acrylic I traced the lines for the lamp shade (including the fringe that hangs from the bottom of the "skirt") and the shoe and pedestal.

I did make a mistake and painted the front that is exposed to the weather though, I should have painted the back so it's protected (I'm in Northern Indiana, so weather is a major issue). By doing it this way you can glue the acrylic to the 2x4 panel (screws tend to break it) then just mask off a couple areas and spray the colors accordingly.

To mount the leg I basically built a shadow box with and sandwiched the leg between two 1x2's and painted the entire box black. After painting the box I put the leg in place, then added two more 1x2's behind it, the first picture shows this a little better since they weren't painted but the box itself was. To mount it I have it on a 4x4 with a post stake into the ground, this is optional and will run another $20 easily.

Here's a few pics... most people so far that I've talked to, when they see it from the street, they think it's the actual lamp you can buy online.

-2.jpg
-1-1.jpg
-3.jpg

I hadn't cleaned up my cords when I took the pic, but you all deal with these too.

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Here's a leg lamp for ya. I'm still trying to figure out how to make it bigger and better :). For the full night time effect with animation you can check out the following link.
http://youtu.be/0xkubyZKQeU
We're full steam ahead trying to get ready for this year...the leg lamp may have suffered a fatal blow in transport to our storage unit though :(
Geesh, I love that movie.....


Attached files 285616=15819-LegLamp-Day.jpg

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