Our Story
Hello there - come and make beautiful lampshades with us!
Hi, I am Una - happiest when I craft and create with my hands. I love everything from sewing, crocheting and embroidery to paper craft, drawing and woodwork. So, when some years ago I started working with my lovely friend Anna, who founded this business, it came as no surprise that I was hooked to lampshade making pretty quickly.
You can read Anna's story and how it all started with 3Chooks further below. For me, the biggest joy from running this business now comes from sharing the beautiful craft of lampshade making in my workshops, supplying lampshade making goods to so many people around the country and hearing your lampshade making stories and how they brought you joy.
Here at 3Chooks Lampshades, we help you learn the skill of lampshade making using straightforward instructions and high quality supplies so you can create long lasting, unique and practical decorations for your home.
We start off by giving you our FREE tried and tested lampshade making instructions. Then, every couple of weeks (for a limited time) you'll receive further training, inspiration, tips and knowledge to improve your skills.
If you are local, you could join one of our Lampshade Making Workshops. Over the course of about 3 hours of creative fun, we teach you how to prepare your lampshade paper panel, cover the rings with cotton tape, peg your lampshade into shape and finally roll the edges of fabric onto the rings to finish off your creation.
Stick with us and in no time your home will be lit up with cosy, pretty lamps made by you. You can find everything you need to create beautiful and individual lampshades in our Lampshade Making Supplies.
Thank you for visiting! If you'd like to get in touch to talk everything lampshades, please send me an email.
Una xx
Our Lampshade Making Products
Lampshade Making Products
3Chooks is your destination for lampshade making supplies, including:
* Lampshade Making Kits including kits to make gooseneck lampshades* Lampshade paper (also known as styrene, adhesive styrene or pressure sensitive styrene)
* Australian made wire lampshade frames/ wire ring sets
* Simple laser cut bamboo plywood lamp bases
* Quality Australian craft glue by Helmar
* Cotton tape
* Lampshade making instructions
* Lampshade making workshops
Plus inspiration, tutorials, tips and tricks and a whole lot more through our blogs, social media, YouTube channel, and regular emails.
3Chooks products and packaging are made in Australia by Australian family owned companies. The one exception is the lampshade paper, which is manufactured in the UK. As there is no comparable Australian made product available, we researched high and low to find a lampshade backing that is one of the highest quality products in the world.
To keep up with what's going on here at 3Chooks please sign up to our regular emails - full of tips and tricks, how-to videos, inspiration from other 3Chooks makers, useful ideas, promotions and sales.
3Chooks also has a growing wholesale customer base including stockists of our Lampshade Making Kits and many makers across the country who are talented lampshade makers in their own right. Enquire here to become a wholesale customer (minimum order quantities apply).
We are passionate about using Australian suppliers, supporting the re-use, re-purpose, recycle movement - we encourage you to re-wire beautiful old lamps, re-use your existing lampshade frames where possible, find that fabric you've been saving for 'just the right project' and give lampshade making a go. If you do decide you need everything fresh, we have all you need on offer in our Shop.
Learn with 3Chooks Lampshades
Learn with 3Chooks Lampshades
We are teaching lampshade making workshops here at our Killcare studio on the stunning NSW Central Coast and occasionally also in Sydney and Newcastle. It is a lovely skill to learn and you don't require any prior knowledge.
Join us for a fun 3-hour skill sharing session one crafty morning here at Killcare - you can find more information on our workshops and upcoming dates to book into here:
3Chooks Lampshade Making Workshops
How it all started...
Founder of the business, the lovely Anna Trigg tells her story:
Hi! I'm Anna. I grew up in north-west NSW on a wheat and sheep farm where I learned the enjoyment that can be found in making, repairing and repurposing. I'm all about beautiful things with a functional and practical purpose.
One day about 10 years ago, my sister-in-law Araceli and I decided we'd like to make our own lampshades. We took a trip to a local haberdashery and luck was on our side. We got to talking to the wonderful Mary. She spent over an hour with us wandering around the store, explaining lampshade making, pointing out the tools necessary, recalling lampshades she had made and what she had learnt from the process.
We chose a few bits and pieces and headed home with our stash. Excited, I got to making mine pretty quickly - it was a small bell shape rigid shade, I chose orange fabric and a plaited orange trim to go over all the rough edges. It was a fun process! I called Araceli and sent her photos of the finished shade. She was impressed and had lost interest in attempting her own shade...so the next time we caught up I took all her bits and pieces and made hers too: a narrow cylinder with palm fronds and dark green tassels hanging all around the bottom edge. It turned out really nicely too... I had the bug!
I went round the house looking at all the other lamps we had and decided there were a few I could rip apart and attempt to re-make. Fun! Back to the fabric store and I chose some other sweet fabrics and continued on with my lampshade making adventure.
Soon I was making lampshades for baby shower gifts, birthdays and Christmas. I was getting pretty good at it too! Next stop...custom made lampshades, a market stall, a website, then lampshade making kits and workshops. Of course all the people I was teaching were keen to keep making too so I started selling all the lampshade making supplies and components...a couple of kids, some swings and roundabouts ... and here we are today.
After 14 years of enjoying the lampshade making community, I am on my way to new ventures teaching permaculture principles to kids and adults and running the Central Coast Edible Garden Trail. My lovely friend Una has taken over the business as the new owner and will be enjoying her path on the lampshade making trail.
By the way... As so many of you have asked me this - the name 3Chooks was inspired by my highly entertaining collection of backyard chickens :)
