Shade, 4-sided or 6-sided: This design is for 6 sides. That gives a good proportion.
Dimensions of each side: Side (on a slant) 9 ins., top, 21⁄2 ins. Bottom, 8 ins. (See [drawing].) Cut out a pattern for one side. Use stiff card board. Lay this design on a piece of copper large enough to cut out the whole lamp shade. Mark around the pattern. Lay the same pattern against one side of the marked design. Make it fit exactly along the margin line. Repeat until you have done six sides. You have now a fan shaped pattern with six divisions. Cut this along the top and bottom lines.
If folded up along these division lines it would shape up into a lamp shade. All lamp shades have glass for light. We provide for the glass by cutting out a section of each of the six faces. Take your card board pattern. Mark a line all around from 3⁄4 in. and parallel to the sides, 1 in. from the top and 1 in. from the bottom. Cut out the inner section made by these lines. Place the pattern on the copper and mark each section. Cut it out with the cold chisel on the wooden block. File up the rough places left, make the edges square and smooth. Bend up each section along the centre line in the following way: Get two pieces of wood, 2 × 1⁄2 × 20 ins. Place the two pieces in a vise and slip the copper between the pieces down to the line where it should be bent. Tighten up on the vise, press the copper over with the hands and tap gently along the lines with the mallet, keeping the angles about 60°. Do this on each of the six sides. If carefully done the shade will have a hexagonal shape. The open parts should come together, one side overlapping about 1⁄4 in. Hammer down the overlapping part and rivet.
Glass: Cut a piece of card board 1⁄4 in. larger all around than the opening in the sections for the glass. Take this to a glazier. Tell the dealer just what is wanted and he will make suggestions as to colour, kinds of glass, etc. Cathedral or opalescent glass is very decorative.
To set the glass: Place one of the panes of glass on the inside of the section, over the open space. Mark all around it. Take 4 pieces of copper (3⁄4 × 3⁄8 in.) and bend them in a double angle.