Blue Concrete Hand - Table Lamp

In this instructable I'll show you how I made a concrete hand holding a light bulb. I like it as a table lamp, but you can make some simple modifications and hang it on a wall.

This is a short project, it takes about 30-60 minutes of work, and since the result is a really nice addition to your house I think its one of my favorites :)

Hope you enjoy!

Supplies

You'll need:

1) Disposable latex gloves.

2) Concrete mix. You can use anything you like, but white concrete works well if you want to add color.

3) Water based paint. I used acrylic paint (optional)

4) A light socket. I used a standard E27 socket. You can find one here.

5) A suitable power cord.

6) A light bulb. I like the "Edison" light bulbs since you can see the filaments and they come in nice shapes. You can get all different kinds here.

You'll also need some nylon wrap, a bowl to mix the concrete in and some tools to mix it with.

Step 1: Mix Concrete!

Mix some concrete powder (or a pre-made mix) with water in a plastic bowl.

Make sure it's smooth and slightly thinner than ordinary concrete (it should jiggle when you move the bowl).

I wanted the concrete hand to be blue, so I added some water-based acrylic paint to it.

Step 2: Fill in a Latex Glove!

First, cover the E27 light socket with plastic wrap.

Next, pour concrete into the plastic glove. Make sure you get all the air bubbles out. Once the glove is about 80% full, put the plastic-covered light socket inside. Adjust its position so that the connectors are at the back-side of the concrete hand, and that it is somewhat centered.

Tie & seal the glove and wash its outside well.

Step 3: Let the Concrete Dry!

Using plastic wrap, cover the light-bulb that you'll later want your concrete hand to hold.

This part was NOT in the video - I learned the hard way that if you skip this part, little drops of concrete will glue the latex glove & the light bulb together!

Use some stuff laying around the house to hold the hand such that it'll dry to the shape you want it to.

After you wait for a few minutes, you may see large bubbles or water residues inside the latex glove. You can use a small pin to drain those out. The concrete won't drip too much out of these holds if they're small enough.

Step 4: Finalize the Lamp!

Cut of the latex glove and break the concrete covering the light socket. This shouldn't be hard - it's only a small layer laying on top of the plastic wrap. Since the concrete layer is really thin, you should see a circle where the light socket is (see pictures).

Connect a power cord to the back side. You can make some housing or cover it if you like, but for my design that wasn't necessary since the back side is hidden anyway. When connecting wires, make sure you know what you're doing! If you don't, ask someone to show you how to do it. In any case, make sure that the wires are unplugged while you work!