I wanted to create a lamp that looks like a firefly, with the bulb representing its glowing thorax. I began by modeling the design in Onshape, ensuring the proportions felt natural. To do this, I measured the lightbulb and lamp kit I purchased, recreated them in CAD, and used them as reference geometry. I designed the firefly’s body with perforated bend lines to make sheet metal forming easier. For the wings, I found an illustration online and image-traced it in Adobe Illustrator, simplified the design, and exported it as a DXF to import and extrude in Onshape.

Once the CAD was complete, I laser cut the parts from mild steel and bent the body using a finger brake.

Welding the body was tricky because I had to weld it with the electronics inside. I had to blow compressed air into the body intermittently to prevent the lightbulb housing from melting, and I tried to shield it using tin foil. I then angle ground all of the edges flat.

For the legs, I used a 1/4" solid steel tube, bent with a small tube bender and welded to the body. I fabricated the face by welding two large cap nuts onto a short cylindrical section of steel, then attached it to the base. Finally, I bent and welded on the wings, completing the form.

After everything was welded and angle ground, I spray painted the whole thing black, then hot glued paper to the wings to give them some depth.