Natural Fibre Lamp Shade - Alleppey, Kerala
Early lampshades were made of paper and then these lampshades became elaborate and the craft of designing shades using different materials became an art. The lampshades were used to soften and disperse the light from candles and oil lamps. These natural fibres are considered as a gift from the environment to mankind. One can find many advantages like natural fibres have a low specific weight that results in higher specific strength and also stiffness than glass and are producible with low investment at low cost which makes an interesting product. These natural fibres are also friendly processing with no skin irritation.
Initially, the basic structure for the lamp is done by welding iron rods according to the required design and size. Then the natural fibre threads are winded neatly to the basic structure of the lamp. Then artisan starts to knot the thread one by one which is made of jute plant at the top. Then the process continues with the knitting process where the artisan picks alternate threads and knots the threads tightly to obtain the required design. The lampshade made of natural fibres is done by weaving the threads so that all the threads are interlinked which creates fine-looking apparel. Once done with the knitting process, the artisan starts to join the knitted threads by stitching with the help of a needle and the thread. Whereas jute cloth is stitched at the backside of the lampshade.
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