DIY Indoor And Outdoor Concrete Lamp

This LED concrete lamp looks amazing both indoors and outdoors. They provide the perfect amount of ambient light and can be colour and brightness controlled if you buy an LED string with a controller and remote. Make these as a gift for a friend or loved one and they are sure to be impressed with your DIY skills. This is the perfect weekend project and is great way to get started working with concrete.

If this project seems a bit too complicated and you’d still like to try out a project with concrete, have a look at our guide on making mini concrete planters.

What You’ll Need To Make A Concrete Lamp

How To Make The Concrete Lamp

The instructions are broken up into three sections, making the mould and casting the concrete base, preparing the tree branch and installing it on the base and finally installing the LED lights.

Making The Concrete Base

First you need to make the housing for the electronics for the LED string. Take a piece of foam from a shipping package and cut it to create a cylinder.

make the led storage container

Close it by taping the side and then cut out a circle to close off one end. A paper cup would work as well.

make the led storage container cylinder

Now you need to make the outside of the concrete mould using a piece of metal flashing. First mark the metal flashing for the bottom of the form,  12 centimeters or 5 inches tall. Next, mark 5 centimeters or 2 inches above the first line. At this point, you will have two parallel lines.

make the concrete form mould

Now wrap the metal flashing around the vase. Close the flashing by taping the loose end. Next, take two 2.5 centimeter or 1 inch rubber seals and follow the line going around the interior. Do this twice to give yourself a two-inch path around the interior of the flashing. This part will shrink the interior, which will make the glass fit over the concrete base.

make the concrete form mould part 2

Take a piece of aluminum foil, place it down on a flat surface. Then trace the vase and then the foam cup as shown.

make the concrete form mould part 3

Use hot glue to secure the cup then the flashing to the marking.

the complete concrete form mould

Mix concrete and pour it in the form.

casting the concrete form

After a few days remove the flashing and rubber seal.

the final conrete form before cleaning up

The bottom should be smooth but you will need to sand the top.

sanding the edges of the concrete

Preparing The Tree Branch

Choose a suitably size tree branch to fit into your vase, then spray it with black spray paint. Allow time to dry between coats until it is uniform and not blotchy.

spray the tree branch black

Depending on the size of tree branch you chose, use the appropriate size masonry bit to drill a hole for the branch into the concrete. A 12mm or 1/2 inch bit was used here to drill down into the foam cup.

drill a hole for the tree branch into the conrete

Test that everything fits nicely.

insert the tree branch and ensure that the glass vase fits over the branch

Install The LED Lights

Drill a hole in the lower part of the concrete base for the LED power plug to pass through. Next, use hot glue to hold the plug in place.

drill a hole for the power cable for the led

Pass the Led String light power end down through top then connect to the power cable.

Next, feed a few feet of the led into the vase.

add the led lights

Then place the branch in the vase and feed more led as you proceed.

twist the lights around the branch

Now sit the vase on top of the concrete.

Cut out a felt pad and stick it onto the bottom to protect the surface it stands on as the concrete base is heavy and rough.

add felt to the bottom to stop it from scratch your furniture

Your lamp is now completed and can be plugged in.

completed led light 3

The Completed Lamp

completed led lightcompleted led light 2

This post is based upon DIY Indoor Outdoor Concrete Lamp 2 by diycreators and has been modified and used under the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-SA.

 

Michael Klements
Michael Klements
Hi, my name is Michael and I started this blog in 2016 to share my DIY journey with you. I love tinkering with electronics, making, fixing, and building - I'm always looking for new projects and exciting DIY ideas. If you do too, grab a cup of coffee and settle in, I'm happy to have you here.

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