It’s a good thing that the cute older gentleman at the hardware store helped me. I said, “I’m making a lamp out of a ceramic vase; what can I use to drill a hole through ceramic?” He looked me straight in the eye and said, “You need a carbide-tipped drill bit.”

“And you’re asking the right person because my wife and I owned a ceramic store in town for thirty years. Just be sure to drill slowly.” How lucky that the one hardware store employee I talked with had a ceramic-drilling background. I mean, what are the odds?

I always liked this purple vase given to me by my aunt (thanks Patty!). I was thinking about making a lamp and when I looked around the house, this raised its little hand and volunteered.

Then I did it. I drilled a hole through ceramic. Darn proud of myself too. My friend at the hardware store was right, you have to drill very slowly (and somehow secure the piece to the bench). I taped the vase well to the spongy surface that hubby keeps on the workbench.

The rest of the project was simple. I also drilled the pot saucer that I would use as a base, then primed and painted that and the PVC pipe. I put all the lamp parts together with the vase and saucer, cut the painted PVC pipe to length to camouflage the threaded pipe and then connected the wires to the socket.

There’s my lamp (above). The only thing I may do to improve it is go back and cut the pipes just a little shorter. But I do like the finished product, and now I am eyeing other things in my house for lamp-making potential.

So light us up when you do this week’s Challenge: Make a lamp from an object in your home. Walk around your space and I bet now you’ll hear little voices, “Pick me, Pick me. I’ve always wanted to be a lamp.”