While anyone can search YouTube and learn how to drill through a store-bought vase to make a lamp, we potters can take a much more rewarding approach—building the form from the ground up!
In this post, an excerpt from her new book Making Pottery for the Home and Garden, Sumi von Dassow shows you how to make a ceramic lamp on the pottery wheel from start to finish. With expert tips for avoiding warping during drying and a clear explanation of incorporating the electrical components, you'll be well on your way to creating a one-of-a-kind piece that illuminates both the room and your creativity. –Jennifer Poellot Harnetty, editor
Making a Ceramic Lamp on the Potter's Wheel
You’ll find plenty of DIY sites online telling you how to turn a vase into a lamp, but as a potter you get the fun of making your own lamp base instead of drilling a hole in the bottom of one from the thrift store. To make a lamp, you’ll need to order a lamp kit, which will come with a socket, a power cord, a harp (the harp arches over the bulb and holds the lamp-shade), and maybe a lamp pipe. The lamp pipe acts like a spine inside your lamp base, holding the socket firmly in place by means of a washer on the underside of your lamp. This requires making a tall foot (or feet) on your vase, or a pedestal for it, with a small hole for the cord to emerge from. Another piece you might need is called a vase cap, if the opening at the top of your vase is larger in diameter than the lamp pipe. If you order the kit before you make the lamp, you’ll have to account for shrinkage as you are making it. If you make the vase first, you can measure your finished vase and order the correct length of lamp pipe, and a vase cap of the right diameter.
Some lamp kits come without a lamp pipe or a vase cap; they include a threaded pipe nipple only long enough to attach the socket and the harp. To use one of these kits you must leave a small opening in the top of the vase, just big enough for the pipe nipple, and make a hole in the bottom big enough for your hand. The hardware is held in place by a washer, but you need to be able to reach inside it from underneath to fasten it. The cord runs out a hole in the side. Another option is to assemble the hardware with a vase cap, then glue the vase cap down. You will still need a hole in the side for the cord.
A lamp is a fun project because the base can be any size, any shape, made using any method of clay forming, and can even be a sculptural form. If you can figure out how to get the hardware inside it, and run a cord out of the bottom, you can turn any form you make into a lamp.
How to Throw a Ceramic Lamp Base
1 Center five pounds of clay and open it up to the bat. Make the opening across the bottom only an inch or so in diameter to avoid warping during drying. Pull up a rounded cylinder, and begin collaring it in at the top.
2 Bring the top in until it is almost completely closed. Smooth the surface of the lamp with a soft rib.
3 Here I am using the rib to create a ridge about halfway between the widest point and the narrowest point on the form, to give character to an otherwise rather austere form.
4 Once the form has stiffened up, trim excess clay from the bottom half of the form while it is still stuck to the bat. Once you’ve done this, wire under it.
5 Before removing the vase from the bat, use a ½-inch hole borer to enlarge the hole you left in the top to accommodate the lamp pipe.
6 Turn the lamp over on a chuck and use a level to make sure it is centered.
7 Use a needle tool to cut a hole in the bottom of the lamp large enough for you to get a hand inside. Don’t cut out the entire bottom of the lamp; if you do, you risk having the lamp go out of round in the glaze firing.
8 Use a ¼-inch hole borer to drill a hole toward the bottom of the lamp for the cord.
How to Assemble a Handmade Ceramic Lamp
9 To assemble the lamp, start by threading a steel nut on one end of the threaded pipe nipple, then above it drop on a lock washer and a check ring.
10 Reaching in from the bottom of the lamp, put the pipe nipple through the hole in the top with the check ring assembly on the inside. Place another check ring, a neck, if desired, the saddle of the harp, and another lock washer on the threaded pipe nipple. Screw the base of the socket on to hold everything in place.
11 Thread the lamp cord through the hole in the lamp, then up through the threaded pipe nipple until a couple of inches come out the top end. Separate the ends of the wire, if it is not already separated, and strip ½ inch of each wire if necessary.
12 Tie an “underwriter’s knot” (electrician’s knot) in the top of the lamp cord. A diagram of an underwriter's knot is included in most lamp kits or you can find instructions online. This knot reduces strain on the connections to the screw terminals on the socket. Loop each wire away from the center, passing one in front of the cord and the other behind the cord. Put each wire end through the loop created by the other wire. Feel the wires with your fingernail. One of them is ribbed. This is the neutral wire. Wrap the neutral, ribbed wire clockwise around the silver wire terminal screw and tighten it with a screwdriver.
13 Wrap the smooth wire clockwise around the brass “hot” terminal screw and tighten with a screwdriver. Make sure the stripped wires don’t touch any metal other than the terminal screws. Slip the socket cover, with the cardboard insulating sleeve inside, over the socket. There is a notch in both the socket cover and the cardboard sleeve to accommodate the on/off switch. Pull the wires from underneath to take up the slack. Snap the socket cover onto the socket base, screw in a bulb, plug in your lamp, and turn it on! Slide up the ferrules (the little metal caps that lock the harp onto the harp saddle), squeeze the sides of the harp, and slide the notched ends of the harp into the channels in the saddle. Let the ferrules drop. Add the shade and finial.
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Published Oct 13, 2025
Making a Ceramic Lamp on the Potter's Wheel
How to Throw a Ceramic Lamp Base
2 Bring the top in until it is almost completely closed. Smooth the surface of the lamp with a soft rib.
4 Once the form has stiffened up, trim excess clay from the bottom half of the form while it is still stuck to the bat. Once you’ve done this, wire under it.
6 Turn the lamp over on a chuck and use a level to make sure it is centered.
8 Use a ¼-inch hole borer to drill a hole toward the bottom of the lamp for the cord.
How to Assemble a Handmade Ceramic Lamp
10 Reaching in from the bottom of the lamp, put the pipe nipple through the hole in the top with the check ring assembly on the inside. Place another check ring, a neck, if desired, the saddle of the harp, and another lock washer on the threaded pipe nipple. Screw the base of the socket on to hold everything in place.
12 Tie an “underwriter’s knot” (electrician’s knot) in the top of the lamp cord. A diagram of an underwriter's knot is included in most lamp kits or you can find instructions online. This knot reduces strain on the connections to the screw terminals on the socket. Loop each wire away from the center, passing one in front of the cord and the other behind the cord. Put each wire end through the loop created by the other wire. Feel the wires with your fingernail. One of them is ribbed. This is the neutral wire. Wrap the neutral, ribbed wire clockwise around the silver wire terminal screw and tighten it with a screwdriver.
13 Wrap the smooth wire clockwise around the brass “hot” terminal screw and tighten with a screwdriver. Make sure the stripped wires don’t touch any metal other than the terminal screws. Slip the socket cover, with the cardboard insulating sleeve inside, over the socket. There is a notch in both the socket cover and the cardboard sleeve to accommodate the on/off switch. Pull the wires from underneath to take up the slack. Snap the socket cover onto the socket base, screw in a bulb, plug in your lamp, and turn it on! Slide up the ferrules (the little metal caps that lock the harp onto the harp saddle), squeeze the sides of the harp, and slide the notched ends of the harp into the channels in the saddle. Let the ferrules drop. Add the shade and finial.
Unfamiliar with any terms in this article? Browse our glossary of pottery terms!
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