The clean-up of the black dirt and grime. The patina, green paint, rust, bare metal and the text of "SUMMER SHELL TRACTOR OIL" revealed itself. I love anything with lettering on. Things like this I find especially cool. Stencilled on and overall it's a very crudely made oil can, but so what? It served its purpose and the simplicity is what many things need today. If this was manufactured today you would need to download an app or some rubbish like that to even be able to use it.

My thoughts were I have seen many lamps made from these kind of oil cans before but how can I make mine different to the masses of copy-and-paste designs. I found a vintage car headlight online – a Notek Special, it is called, used in the '30s and '40s. This one stood out to me as it has louvres inside almost giving a theatre light look. It helps focus the light forward and down so it isn't so blinding to look at from certain angles. I gutted the old bulb holder and electrics as they looked well past their sell-by date and began fitting a new bulb holder, wire and plug that comes out of the rear. I went with a brown wire to tie in with the rusty patina.

Here is the light in action. I used a yellow but dim LED bulb. It makes it more usable as a light to add ambience instead of one I would use for lighting a room.

Another item I have used to tie in the tractor theme is a curved tractor spanner. These were apparently this shape to get into awkward spaces on ploughs and other farm equipment. This has been welded just under the light. It also makes it easy to move around as a makeshift handle.

Few components, kept it simple. I would say it took longer to think about than to actually do. The finished oil can has been waxed with furniture wax to lock in the colours and provide a soft sheen that is soft to the touch.