Scavenger Chic

Upcycled Cream Separator Pendant Lamp, Easy DIY

• By Joan
• May 20, 2020
• 2 Comments

Upcycled Cream Separator Pendant Lamp

Have you had a chance to create an upcycled pendant lamp yet?  And if not, why not?  There’s no actual wiring required.  The hardest part will be  finding the object that you want to convert.  

For this project my victim is this old rusty cream separator.  I bought him at a flea market last year.  How much would you pay for this rusty beauty?  I am proud to say I snagged him for $1.

You can check out all my upcycled lighting here to give you a few more ideas.

At least I believe my $1 find is a Cream Separator.   If I’m wrong, please correct me, I’m not always up on my farm equipment.

It already has the lamp shade shape but what sets the Separator apart is a fine screen on the inside.

My pendant to be also had a ton of rust which makes me believe it hadn’t been used as a Separator for quite some time.  

Take your sander to the rust until you have a nice flat surface for painting.

Spray paint the color of your choice to match your decor.  I’m using  Rustoleum metallic Gold for the outside and a satin black for the inside of the lamp.

I picked up the pendant light cord a few months ago from Michaels when the store was actually open (yes, my store is still closed).  I’m not sure Michael’s still carries their line of DIY lighting. I couldn’t find it available online and the last mention of the cord had it on clearance.  That could be why I found mine for only $5.

No worries, I have also found light cords at IKEA, Home Depot and Amazon to give you a start on your search.  You’ll find some with a plug so that you would hang the cord from a hook on the ceiling and those that need to be hardwired.  This one has a plug…like I said, no wiring required.

The bottom part screws off  giving you about 1/2″  of wiggle room to insert your lamp shade of choice.  Some sockets give a bit more wiggle room.

Use a compass (old-fashioned circle maker) to create a circle on 1/2″ plywood to fit inside the top of the cream separator.

Do the same for the center circle. The center circle should be large enough that the pendant socket will fit through the hole but small enough so the  upper portion of the socket will not.

Cut your circles with a jigsaw or table top scroll saw.

The newly cut plywood is easily sandwiched between the two sections of the lamp fixture.

Stain the  plywood with the color of your choice.   Dabs of E6000 glue will adhere the disc to the Cream Separator’s screen.

Push the wooden circle into place on top of the Separator. 

Cut out a circle in the screen the same size as the center hole with a utility knife or scissors.

Screw the light fixture into place.  This is the view of the light fixture and Separator from below.

You could be done at this point.  I decided to give my pendant just a little more pop with a couple of added stripes.

 For the bottom stripe, I laid a pencil on a board, the thickness I wanted my stripe and rotated the pendant until I had a pencil line completely around the lamp.

Hopefully you have a steady hand because this black paint stripe is painted freehand.  I started with a bottle of acrylic black paint but switched to chalk paint when I realized I would have to do two coats.  Chalk paint covers so much better!

For the upper stripe I could use painters tape or continue to paint freehand.

Why, you may ask wouldn’t I use painters tape on the bottom stripe?  That’s a great question…it may not look like it, but the sides of the lower part of the creamer are slightly bowed in which would cause the tape not to lay flat against the shade, and I for one can’t stand paint bleed.

The view from the top of the pendant.  I did give the wood a light coat of polyurethane but that would be optional, I doubt anyone would ever see the lamp from this angle.

Use the lamp over a desk, a craft table, or like I have here, a gaming table.

Have a great week, stay inspired.

This stool is the eleventh project from my flea market finds from August of last year.   Of course there is the pendant lamp, you can see him perched upon the rusty metal cart on the left.  There is also an upholstered stool, a tree floor lamp,  a wire spool table, a bar cart, the  shelves made from the desk drawers,  lamps made from the jack stands, a star made from tobacco sticks, whale weathervane from a jack, coffee table from silo doors, and a pair of raised stencil headboards from a free roadside find.  Click on any of the links for the full DIYs.

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