Pickle Jar Lamp

Are you looking for a unique project? Turn a basic pickle jar into a beautiful and functional lamp for your home! This is a great way to reduce, reuse, and recycle your old pickle jars! 

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Materials:

• Pickle Jar 1 Gallon
• Lamp Kit (I used this one) 
• 12” All Thread Lamp Pipe Kit (I used this one)
• ⅜” Glass and Tile Drill Bit
• Drill (This is the one I have and love)
• ⅜” Drill bit 
• Screw driver
• Lamp Shade
• Light Bulb
• Spray Paint (optional) I used Rust-Oleum in Metallic

Step 1:

Eat all of the pickles. This is especially easy in my household because my husband loves pickles! 🙂

Step 2: 

Clean out jar and remove label and stamped date on jar. I like to use a brillo pad for this step to get it really clean and smooth.

Step 3: 

Drill three holes in the glass pickle jar: Two in the bottom and one on the side near the bottom for the wiring kit.

Note: I put the jar upside down in a small trash can to hold it still and to catch any glass particles. This also made it steady so it was easy to drill without it moving. 

Step 4:

Drill a ⅜” hole into the top of the pickle jar lid to make a way for the thread kit to come through the top. You may need to sand it a little to make it smooth.

Step 5: 

Spray paint the top of the jar and thread pipe kit if desired. I wanted all the pieces to match, but you can choose a gold kit on Amazon and not have to spray paint anything but the lid. Allow time to dry before you try to put the pieces together. 

Note: I like to put the pieces I’m spray painting into a box so the paint overspray stays contained in the box.

  

Step 6: 

Follow the lamp kit instructions for wiring the pieces together, but here’s the order they should go with my instructions for what I did. Here’s also a video of me putting mine together:

1. Weave the wiring through the side of the jar, then the off centered hole in the bottom of the lamp.
2. Add the nut that will hold the threaded pipe in place at the bottom of the lamp next over the wire, then thread the wire through the center hole at the bottom of the lamp. Make sure that all of the wire pieces are straight so the lamp will sit flush with the surface its sitting on.
3. Thread the wires through the threaded pipe and push through the bottom of the jar. Tighten the nut that was at the bottom of the jar to secure the pipe in place.
4. Put the pickle jar lid through the wire and the pipe and push down until it screws and clicks into place.
5. Add the washer screw* to the top of the jar lid.
6. Add the pipe extension piece* to the top of the threaded pipe for added stability and height  and then the extra piece of small threaded pipe*.
7. Screw in the bottom of the light bulb socket into the threaded pipe and tighten with a screwdriver.
8. Tie a loose knot with the top of the wires. You may have to adjust how much wire is coming out of the top of the lamp by pulling it down through the lamp.
9. Unscrews the screws on the light socket that will hold the wires. Wrap the appropriate colored wire to the appropriate screw (will be in kit instructions) and tighten screws to hold wires in place.
10. Adjust the knot you made earlier with the wires so they’ll fit snuggling in the socket. You may need to pull the wire down through the lamp a little more.
11. Fit the socket sleeve over the socket and push down until it clicks into place with the socket. Note: This will not come back apart easily if something was not done correctly, so make sure it’s ready to move forward!

*piece that came with the threaded pipe kit

Step 7: 

Add the lampshade, light bulb, and plug it in! You just made an adorable lamp out of a pickle jar! This is the perfect recycling project and a great way to get your feet wet with making your own lamps!