Mission Del Rey - Rawhide Lamp Shades, Indian Drums, Rugs | Southwest Decor

Several years ago we began making rawhide lamp shades and selling them on the internet.  Since those early days we have learned a lot about rawhide lampshades and have had the opportunity to help others also understand rawhide.  There are reasons why it is sometimes loose or tight.  And then, there is the care.  What is best to condition rawhide shades; and how do you do it?  After all, you want to protect your investments in rustic lamps, lighting and home furnishings. 

When it is time to start that Arizona room project or bring in the western flavor to your space, it will be rawhide lamp shades that you will want because of their rustic design and functionality.  Since shades made of leather and rawhide are also available in colors, they are one of the easiest ways to set the rustic decor of your room.

In choosing a rawhide lamp shade you want to use only lamp shades made with goat skin rawhide.  It is goatskin that has the unique stretching qualities and translucency that make them the lampshade of choice.  You will also want to insure that craftsman used heavy metal frames.  The reason for this is that rawhide contracts or tightens in times of heat and dryness.  It can be so strong that it will cause a regular frame to bend.

There are a few things to consider when your rawhide shade arrives.  As mentioned, rawhide tightens when heated or dried.  It also expands or loosens when humidity is present making the environment of the shade is very important.  When your shade arrives, it may appear to have loose hide or there may be ripples in the hide.  This is normal as the shipping experience can be one that is very humid.  It may have been routed through a thunderstorm or humid warehouse.  The packaging will retain the humidity and cause the hide to loosen.  But once it is put into service the heat from the bulb and air will quickly tighten it.

This brings us to the other extreme, over heating.  Because heat causes the rawhide to tighten it is possible to overheat the hide causing it to split.  While this is a natural reaction to environment, there are a few things that you can do.  Don’t use a regular incandescent bulb which creates excessive heat.  Instead use a compact fluorescent bulb for the same wattage of light with a fraction of the heat.  Avoid placing the shade in direct sunlight of the heat radiated by the sun through a window.  And in the winter, be careful of heat ducts and very dry rooms.  Many people don’t realize that air conditioning can also dry the air in a room too.  And probably one of the biggest mistakes is to leave the shades in a closed up room.  When closing a cabin or summer cottage you can create a hot, dry environment.

Caring for rawhide lamp shades is easy.  A little common sense goes a long way, but even with the best of care rawhide will wear out because of the constant expanding and contracting.  You can help increase the life of rawhide lampshades with regular conditioning.  People have tried many different ideas to extend the life of shades.  Some people spray the shades with a coat of clear poly urethane to seal the pores and lock the rawhide in place.  This does seem to work but the polyurethane has a very strong odor and also may be flammable.  Others have used a variety of creams, lotions and oils.  Because rawhide although not tanned is animal skin, it can be helped and hurt by the same types of things that affect our own skin. 

From our experience, the best course of action to for rawhide lamp shade care is to condition regularly with neatsfoot oil.  It seems to have unique qualities unlike other oils.  Along with the use of fluorescent bulbs this can dramatically affect the life of the shade in a positive way.

The interval between conditioning varies according to use and environment.  Arizona and Colorado seem to need conditioning more frequently, but anytime the shade becomes dried out it should be conditioned.  It would be nice to be able to say once a month or every six months but it is better to check the shade and regularly condition it.  If you keep these thoughts in mind when planning your southwestern style room or western design you will get the most out of your rawhide lamp shades.

learn more at the Mission Del Rey website 

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Because you want your southwest home decor to be interesting as well as beautiful, make your rooms say something.  Give them life with rawhide lamp shades, Native American style baskets and pottery or southwest rugs.  Keep all ornamentation or rustic accessories subservient to the lines that your room naturally creates.

Try to imagine how you want each room to look when completed.  For example, light or dark rawhide shades on rustic lamps can make a dramatic impression.  Get the picture well in your mind, as a painter would.  Use the colors of hand woven area rugs and floor runner rugs in traditional southwestern patterns.    Try to think out the main features, for the details all depend upon these and will quickly suggest themselves to you. This is, in the long run, the quickest and the most economical method of furnishing and will keep you from constantly readjusting.

However, there is a theory that no room can be created all at once, that it must grow gradually. In a sense this is a fact, so far as it refers to the amateur decorator. The professional designer is always occupied with creating and recreating rooms and can instantly summon to mind complete schemes of wrought iron, rawhide and southwest rugs or wall hangings for interior design. The amateur can also learn to mentally furnish rooms. It is a fascinating pastime when you get the knack of it.

Beautiful cowboy or Indian accessories can be obtained for a minimal price, if you have established a feeling for line and color. If you are a lover of the beautiful rustic and country style but were not born with this art instinct, you can quickly acquire it. A decorator can create or rearranges one room, and then you can do the next, alone, or with assistance.  In a very short time you will have spread your wings mastering the art of southwest decor, working out legitimate rustic interior design, teeming you’re your individuality.

When you observe the results, you will be pleased and may ask yourself why you like it. This is the birth of good taste. Next, you should always be willing to experiment, makes mistakes, rights them, and takes up another challenge.  In this way you will grow your skill at interior decorating southwestern style and the development your knowledge of rustic home furnishings, rustic furniture and the fundamentals of western ranch, lodge and cabin elements.  

Here is a tip to get you started.  The more rustic accessories of natural materials you group together in a space the better the whole theme ties together.  Try earthen pottery, wooden bowls and kiva ladders along with Indian drums and woven baskets.  Use lamps made of wrought iron, pottery, wood or even antler lamps and rustic leather or rawhide lampshades.  Then use your theme colors in your southwest rugs even if you have carpeting.

Your progress will be rapid and certain in this fascinating study of rustic southwestern decorating, if a few of the laws underlying all successful rustic interior decorating and design are kept in mind.

These are:
HARMONY  in line and color scheme;

SIMPLICITY  in decoration and the number of objects in a room, which is to be dictated by the usefulness of each object and insistence upon

SPACES which, like rests in music, have as much value as the objects dispersed about the room.  Open space can be a welcome relief in your room.

Treat your rooms like a western still life or southwestern art.  See to it that each group, such as a table, sofa, and one or two chairs make a "composition," suggesting the comfort of lodge style as well as the beauty of southwestern homes, adobe or a western ranch setting. Never have an isolated chair, unless it is placed against the wall, as part of the scheme of your home decor.

Rustic decor is a lot of fun and as well as being developed from an empty space can be achieved with existing furnishings by the addition of rustic home accessories.  We cannot emphasize enough the wonderful impact that hand laced rawhide lamp shades and hand woven southwest rugs will make and they work equally well with country style.  Use these simple tips and you will find that you love to decorate with southwest style and also bring the old west into your rustic, country home ideas by using beautiful southwest decor.

Visit the Mission Del Rey Southwest for more information. 

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Native American drums are certainly the most recognized Native American instruments among American Indians and non Indian people alike. Drums for centuries have certainly been at the hub of Native lifestyle, forming what has become the foundation of religion and spirituality as well as feast days where a pow wow drum is at the center.

Indian Shaman in North America history have all used drums in various ways to connect with a higher power known to most as the Great Spirit. To Native people, Indian drums are much more than just decorations or interesting musical instruments. American Indian drums are believed to speak to the drummer. Native drums being made in a circle represent the earth and life. The most well known being hoop drums and shaman drums which are Indian hand drums used in many personal healing and religious ceremonies as well as public ceremonies such as a Native American powwow.

The animal hide that is stretched over the ring brings with it unique characteristics of the spirit of the animal and brings a sense of life to the drum when played. Many people think of hitting a drum to make a sound, but to Indian drummers and those involved in modern drumming groups and drum circles, the desire is to draw out the sound. The beating drum is compared to the beating of a human heart and is said to represent the heart beat of the earth which is a belief that is classic Native American. Drums in this way become the foundation to connect one's spirit with that of the earth and the Great Spirit through out the history of Native Americans.

Native American drums have a rich culture and because they are so important they are used in not only music but art and dance as well. Decorating a drum becomes a very personal artwork to the owner. The Indian drummer becomes an artist and communicates impressions of his inner feelings and beliefs which adorns his drum. Some American Indian tribes use animals to decorate their drums and others use geometric patterns and everything in between. In some tribal Indian cultures the drummer will place some item of personal value inside the drum to permanently join himself with his hand drum.

The different Native American pictures that the artwork on the drums depict is usually painted with natural earth colors taken from nature. Some are dull and others are bright coming from flowers, roots, berries, bark or herbs that are boiled to release their unique earth tones. Other Native American drums are adorned with iron oxide which is a naturally occurring red rock that can be easily crushed. When mixed with water, it produces a rich orange red dye that is much like paint and is indicative if the surrounding hillsides and rock formations like those of the beautiful Arizona red rock canyons. The region of Sedona is thought to be a special place with spiritual energy like the energy created by American Indian drums.

The desire of Native American Education except for those Indian boarding schools that have tried to stamp out Indian has always involved the sharing of beliefs through music, songs, stories and legends. It is in harmony with these methods of learning that the communication and cultural importance has been found in the use of drums. If you are interested in the spiritual aspects of life as pertain to Indian beliefs, you would get a lot out of using and playing Native American drums.

Craig Chambers is a drum expert who sells genuine Native made Native American drums for hand drumming and rustic southwest home decor. He also gives away loads of free Native American drum tips and resources on his website www.missiondelrey.com

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What in the world are you talking about? That might be the question that comes to mind when ordering western rawhide lamp shades or replacement lamp shades. It can be extremely exasperating because various people fit lampshades by different standards.

The whole ordering process is compounded by telephone discussions and internet ordering. If you realize how you should measure a shade to get the proper fit and also communicate the right size, you’re going to prevent problems and receive the lamp shade you are expecting.

If the shade is rawhide or not isn't important, there are important tips you should use to correctly measure and order a shade and also the proper description that will allow you to insure that the person receiving your order is on the same track. We fabricate custom rawhide lamp shades for rustic western lamps and southwestern home furnishings. Because we encounter this situation all the time we have some tips that anyone can use to insure the right look for a lamp, even without seeing the lamp and shade and lamp together.

The right way to measure:
1. You will need to have three different measurements, bottom diameter, top diameter and height. The bottom diameter is always measured across the bottom of the lamp shade. The top diameter is measured across the top opening of the shade. The height of a lampshade should be measured straight up and down vertically, not along the slant.

At this point is where the challenge starts. When relaying the measurements various individuals and companies will use the three dimensions in various order, it's not uniform, so be careful that you are not confusing the bottom and height measurements for example.

2. The height has to be measured straight up and down, but some stores will measure along the slant. These two measurements can vary or be quite different and may make the finished shade to be distorted if confused. Be sure to make clear how the height has been measured. We have noticed that many people that measure the slant rather than the shade height refer to it as the lampshade length rather than height.

A good Tip On Height Measurement:
The reason you should measure height up and down, vertically, is that the height measurement of your lamp from bulb socket base to top of harp is always the minimum vertical height you will want to cover the electrical parts with the shade.

A good Adjusting Height Tip:
When considering a stock replacement shade, the lamp's overall height and look can be adjusted. The wire harp that holds the shade in position above the bulb is simple to replace. That can be great news when a standard shade is
too short to look right. In place of having to order a custom shade you are able to change the harp that can make the shade to sit lower on the lamp to give you the desired look.

lampshade Mounting Type:
The most common shade mount has a center bar across the top with a center hole for the harp mount or a washer centered by three supports that attach to the top rim of the shade. Both types allow the shade to be secured to the harp. Some small lamps and chandeliers don't use a harp but rather use a bulb clip adapter to attach directly to the bulb. A bulb clip is simply two wire loops that are attached to the shade's center bar and grip the bulb.

It’s easy to add a clip to any regular shade to allow it to be placed over the bulb. Chandelier lamp shades almost always have built-in bulb clips made for the small flame or candelabra type bulbs. Lamp shades used as hanging lamps can use an uno mount which has a center ring large enough for the bulb socket to pass through. These also are used on some table lamps. You can use a bulb clip on a replacement shade instead of an uno mount.

You find these tips useful on your future rawhide lamp shade or replacement lampshade project and you will certainly to measure, order and receive the right size lamp shade the without any trouble for fabric or rawhide lamp shades.

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