A turtle without a shell is a sad sight.

I once found a working cast-iron sea turtle desk lamp in a junk pile, but it had no shade. After thinking about it for a few days, I made a shade for the lamp and a shell for the turtle with some stained glass.

The Turtle's Cast Iron Chassis

A turtle without a shell is a sad sight, and a lamp without a shade is just hard to look at, so it didn't take long for me to start thinking of ways to help out the iron turtle, and get a new desk lamp too.

I used what was available around the house/studio to make the shade. First I made some measurements, then I bent a length of coat-hanger wire into a frame for the lamp. When the shape was made to fit on the iron turtle, I covered the wire frame in Sculpy modeling clay, rolled a sewing thimble over the soft clay for texture, and baked according to instructions.

Copper Wire and Stained Glass

Once the frame was baked hard, I started wrapping small broken pieces of stained glass in copper wire.

frame of sculpy clay

Here then, is the finished shell:

It's shape is retained with a bit of chicken wire.

Turtle Meets Shell

Now the two pieces can be put together, and the other lights can go off for the full effect of the turtle desk lamp.

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thanks for looking at my lamp, and now if you ever find a cast iron sea turtle desk lamp in a junk pile, you'll know how to fix it.

all images by me

@therealpaul