Incomplete

I don't really have much money at the moment, but over the weekend I was in a powerful spendy mood. I could have gone out and bought something stupid. Instead I bought an incomplete 1950s anodised aluminium novelty lamp.





It's a lighthouse! It has a cast iron base that looks like rocks, with teeny little paths and steps carved into the rocks, so that an ant-sized lighthouse keeper can walk from his tiny boat up to the minute front door.





There are even tiny bollards with miniscule, delicate chains, so that he doesn't fall off the paths and plummet an entire inch to his doom!





The lighthouse itself is silver anodised aluminium, with green anodised aluminium windows and a little green anodised aluminium walkway (with more chains and bollards) at the top encircling the lamp.





Of course, once we get above the lamp, we reach the 'incomplete' bit. The shade is missing. Fortunately I had a green anodised aluminium lampshade from the same era in the back of my cupboard (as you all do, I'm sure). It clips neatly over the lamp and then tilts to obscure the light. Although that prevents it from dazzling passers by, I have to face the fact that it may also result in more numerous shipwrecks in my living room.


Yesterday I got on the web and managed to track down some pictures of what it's supposed to look like.





Now I could one of three things:


1) Try to track down a replacement shade, in the same colour, on eBay.


2) Recreate the shade out of similar bits and pieces. The grill and mesh are fairly standard and could be bought and shaped at a metalworkers, and I might be able to find an anodised aluminium saucepan lid of roughly the same shape, colour and size at the charity store.


3) Keep the lamp as a hybrid, a unique thing I've cobbled together from the detritus of the past.


I think we all know which option I'm favouring.