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craft: transparent lampshade material?

I need to make my own lampshades, because either I can't find ones I like or I can't afford to buy the six I'd need for all my rooms.

I've found "how-to" sites aplenty, but - I'm visually impaired and I need as much light to get through as possible. I was thinking about some safe tranparent [or nearly so] plastic material or paper or thin white fabric - I only use low-energy bulbs, so the heat from a 30-watts-max bulb shouldn't pose any problems with heat.

But could anyone recommend what kind of material might be best?

I know, transparent shades would be unsightly. But I thought, I could make some bead trims to hang over the shade, in different colours, so I could change them when I felt like it.

Thanks in advance

Not sure why you'd need shades if you want them to truly be transparent, but there are a lot of ways to make translucent ones.

For some, you'd need a lampshade frame of some kind or one of the kinds that has wire loops that fit tightly over a bulb, though. Some possibilities could be:

....vellum paper
....rice paper
....tracing paper
....parchment paper (it's coated with silicone, and silicone is highly heat resistant)
....maybe even plain white paper if the bulb won't be close at all or very hot (paper won't actually burn till it reaches 451 F but it can begin to scorch at somewhat lower temps over time)
....tissue paper

....lightweight white fabric of some kind
....polyester mesh fabric or other mesh fabric (more than one layer if necessary)

Other things would probably be more expensive than simply buying cheap white shades.

Instead of shades, you might be able to just make "screens" --those wouldn't go all around the bulb or even have to be attached to the lamp (or could be, but in different ways), they could just stand in front of the light source to diffuse it a bit.
Those could range from screens that would stand on their own (perhaps even several panels, or something in an empty picture frame which could be stood with a couple of long rice bags), or be attached somehow, or even hang from the ceiling in front of the light source, etc.
They could be flat or curved, large or small, in one piece or many, made from translucent plastic** or frosted glass or anything you could put in some kind of frame, could be decorative on their own, etc.

You might want to check out some of the "screens" and other "light-shining-through" candleholders, etc, on this page for some ideas? They're mostly made with translucent polymer clay, but again just maybe inspirational?

http://glassattic.com/polymer/covering.htm

(...in the list at top of that page, click on the subcategory called "Nightlights, Lamps, Screens" which will be under the category called "Glass and Ceramic" about 2/3 of the way down the list)

some other possible links/lessons:

http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+cover+lamp+shades+paper

http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+cover+lamp+shades

http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+cover+lamp+shades+paper

**like perhaps sheets of "shrink plastic" (unshrunk), or various kinds of dividers/etc one would find at an office supply store, or sheets of plastic sold for replacing broken light diffusers over fluorescent fixtures at "plastics" stores or perhaps in places like Home Depot/etc