My bedroom has a very nice looking flush mounted ceiling light with a glass dome. However, all the bulbs have gone out and I cannot get the glass out to replace them. I'm 5'4" and standing on the bottom corner of my bed I can reach up with my arms fully extended and handle the glass on the bottom and along the very small lip / edge of the glass dome but it doesn't slide or move in either direction. According to a messageboard post I found, the glass dome type of light fixture should move 1/8 of the way counter-clockwise to be removed but I can't get it to budge in either direction. I am at my wits end; HOW can I get this glass dome out? The glass has thus far ignored my curses and yells.
Also my room is pretty small, I can't move my bed anywhere else to get on a stepladder beneath the fixture.
Here is a picture of a similar model:
ETA: I have tried both gloves and exerting sideways turning pressure instead of upward turning pressure. I need to borrow or buy a larger stepladder, but I don't know how much it will help since I think I am getting as much traction and leverage I am going to get with my hand strength. Someone suggested I superglue something to the glass to use as a handle, so I guess I will try that next.
FINAL EDIT: My roommate (who has 6 inches and probably 50 pounds on me) was able to remove the glass after about 5 diffucult minutes of loosening the dome while wearing texturized rubber gloves. His hands are bigger and doubtlessly stronger than mine, which was mostly what granted him victory over the light. I'm glad I didn't have to glue handles to it, but still frustrated by what I maintain is a terrible design for a light fixture. My hands might be on the small side, but it shouldn't be impossible to change lightbulbs if you're on the smaller end of the human spectrum.
Best Answer
I had a very similar light, and the key was this:
Any upward pressure exerted from grabbing the glass created friction that made it not turn.
You want to touch as lightly as you can, near the edges, and try to apply rotational energy only, with no pushing up.
Unfortunately, that is roughly impossible to do if you're reaching so high that you need to press up on the glass to maintain balance. So, you still need to solve the problem of getting higher (and you should NOT climb on anything placed on a bed unless it's highly stable). But if you can get a bit closer, try less pressure, rather than more.
It feels very counter intuitive, but it helped me in a similar circumstance.
One other thing that may help, suggested by none other than @Joel Spolsky, was to try using rubber or latex gloves to allow you to produce more friction without more pressure.