[designstudent]

I have an odd question...
I'm an industrial design student and I want to make a lamp that looks like a log, but is hollowed out so thinly that some light can pass through. I know this won't work with a wood that has a thick bark, but do you think it would work with something like birch? I know this may be a long shot, but I would really like to make something unique and beautiful! Thank you!

 

[Steve Neul]

Light isn't going to pass through any bark. Really the bark needs to be faked with some kind of plastic and done in an injection mold. If it has to be wood I would use basswood and carve the bark rather than real bark. Still I don't know how you could carve it from both sides and get it thin enough without cutting a hole in it somewhere.

 

[mmwood_1]

I have never tried to do such a thing, but I seriously doubt if you could get it thin enough to be translucent and still have any structure at all. On the other hand, you never know until you try. I would suggest getting a piece, and trying the technique on a small section. That way, if it won't work, you don't waste the huge amount of time you might spend doing the entire thing. Good luck.

 

[PhilBa]

I've seen lamp shades made of really thin pieces of wood. The wood is generally light colored - most likely pine or spruce. The problem is bark is not very structural. Maybe the peelings off of a "paper birch" would be thin enough. You'd need to construct a holder for it, perhaps an acrylic cylinder. Might work but think it would be hard to make it look like a real log.

 

[velocipede]

Google birch bark lamp shades....maybe something like this?
http://ruffledblog.com/diy-birch-bark-lamps/