We have been trying for ages to figure out what to do with a particularly pretty piece of live edge Hawaiian Koa.  Wasn’t really big, or an especially convenient shape, and we didn’t want to cut it up because of the incredible grain on the face of it. So it sat and sat and sat.  Then we finally figured out how to keep it whole and keep all that grain exposed, front and center.  We made it the base of our “Slab-and-Branch” lamp design!  We took a long narrow piece of Koa with some dings and cracks in it, and “bent” it into branch form by cutting it on angles in two spots that would make it extend out across the length of the slab.  We glued that up and then attacked that with an angle grinder to create a three dimensional shape and texture of a tree branch.  We drilled holes on either end of the branch to let the electrical cord pass through, another hole in the Koa base, and attached the two parts with hidden dowels.  The underside of the Koa slab already had a natural cavity to let the cord exit—all we had to do was connect that cavity to the hole we drilled with a hand held router!  We cleaned up the slab via the angle grinder and sander, too, careful to leave some tool marks along the way to embellish the naturally rustic look.

 

To complete this rustic/industrial look, we chose a beautiful bright blue fabric wrapped electrical cord to wrap around the branch and attached it to a brushed brass and black socket.  We gave it a large vintage (Edison) style LED bulb with a dramatic spiraling filament that matches the wrap pattern of the blue cord.  The hanging socket has a finger-turn on/off knob on it as shown in the photos.  The fabric cord is a generous 10 feet long and, if desired, you could gently pull more of it up through the base to create more wraps around the branch.  

 

The entire piece was finished with a semigloss brush on polyurethane to add even more pop.

 

This lamp measures 15 1/2” long (at the base) x 10” wide x 22” tall (to the highest point of the branch).  Because of its relatively large size and awkward shape, as well as the weight disparity between the base and the branch, it will require a large box and extra packing materials for safe shipping.