It is hard to imagine that I have been making lamps for five years now, although, when I take an occasional dive into the archives of lamps sold or given away it comes into sharper focus. I have created 642 lamps since I started this retirement hobby. In 2025, 119 lamps were created. Of those, 85 were sold outright, with 14 gifted to friends and family, or donated to charity auctions.
What the numbers don’t reflect is the fun involved in the process. Nobody tells me what lamp to make next (except, on occasion, my spouse, or when there is a lamp commission), so the array ranges from the elegant (Cigar Mold Lamp) to the silly (Batman and Darth Vader at the Baja Beach Bar Lamp).
That keeps it interesting! Occasionally a friend or an acquaintance weighs in. Like Kyllikki Inman of East Hill Antiques, who posted a photo of an old pair of binoculars on Facebook and suggested “somebody should make a lamp out of these”. Just finished that one.
Commissions often have a story behind them – recently I made lamp out of a mutigenerational clarinet (Joe’s Clarinet Lamp). What would have been consigned to a closet shelf is now on display, with lots of stories to tell.
And then there are donations. People just give me stuff and say, “Can you make a lamp out of this?” One guy dropped off an old greasy, gnarly reciprocating fan. After much cleanup it turned into Joe’s Friend’s Fan Lamp and, unbeknownst to me, the donor came back and bought it. Not sure where it is now.
I also enjoy the stories behind why people buy a certain lamp. The Colander Colander Lamp was bought for someone’s brother who was a chef and who recently had had a fire in his residence. A couple who bought the Woody Lamp to take to a memorial service for a young relative who had died and had loved Toy Story. The man who bought the Shoe Shine Lamp because he valued the re-use aspect of Upcycled Lamps and, also because he could hide things in the lamp base.
Or the photography teacher who bought the Radioptican Postcard Projector Lamp to have in her classroom so that her students could get a glimpse of the early days of film projection. As my daughter says, there is a person for each unique lamp, and I am grateful that my work meets that need.
I would be remiss if I didn’t shout out to the Board of the State Theatre of Ithaca who allow me to display lamps in the Box Office windows, and to the staff who graciously handle sales for Upcycled Lamps.
With 25% of each lamp sold going to the nonprofit, this mutually beneficial arrangement provides the State with a little extra cash (donations from sales were $1,583 in 2025 alone) and a constantly changing window display, and gives Upcycled Lamps a downtown Ithaca outlet. One of the windows was even immortalized in a painting by local artist Austin MacRae. That brought me great joy!
Oh, and I can’t forget the The Lamp Man, a short video produced this past year by my third cousin, Anna Pinto, in Ithaca College’s film program. You can find it on You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYYSWpWUlTo&t=42s
So, on the eve of 2026 as it promises to be a long cold winter, I will be in my workshop happily creating new lamps! Thank you all for your kind words and support.
Jon Jensen
December 28, 2025
Upcycled Lamps by Jon Jensen 