10" Geometric with Balls

 

Tiffany Studios created numerous variations on geometric shades with decorative borders and one of the more striking variations is the addition of a row of glass balls. For this 10" Geometric with Glass Balls shade our client chose a mottled strong blue glass for the main body of the lamp. Each golden glass ball has an iridized lustre finish and has been specially created by our glass blower with a hollow center that we then fit with a reproduction jeweler's style mount so it can be screwed into place once the shade is completed. The addition of the row of balls gives the shade a unique three dimensional quality. To see Bill Campbell fitting balls on a previously made shade, look at our blog post from August 15, 2019 that can be referenced here: https://centurystudios.blogspot.com/2019/08/lamp-of-week-14-geometric-with-luster.html

The shade was commissioned by a local client and it is shown on the Ruffle base (total lamp height 17"). Our client is using this unique shade on an original Tiffany Studios floor lamp with a harp.

Studio Hours

 

Century Studios will have regular business hours

now through Thursday December 23

 

Tuesday through Friday 10 - 5

Saturday 10 - 4

Sunday & Monday CLOSED

 

Our studio will be closed Friday December 24 through Monday January 3, 2022

 

 

16" Geranium

 

Sixteen inch shades are the perfect size lamps to fit in any room. Depending on room size and placement, they can be used as accent lamps or be the focal point in an interior. Commissioned by a client in Maryland, this 16" Geranium shade is shown on the Small Stick base (20" tall).

The 16" Geranium shade has five pattern repeats. Bill Campbell chose the glass for this shade and used a variety of fracture/streamer glasses to bring hints of both the flower and leaf colors throughout the background.

Large mottled green leaves form a patchwork of color below delicate scarlet flowers. The juxtaposition of the more transparent background glass with the denser glasses chosen for the plants gives the shade a naturally light and airy feel. The result is a shade with an engaging, pleasant personality.

Lamp of the Week: 25" Fish Scale

 

The 25" Fish Scale shade is a large helmet shaped shade that can be used as a table lamp, floor lamp or chandelier. The glass shifts from celadon green at the top down to green with amber on the lower half of the shade. We also gradually shifted the density of the glass from top to bottom to emphasize the color shift. The shade is shown on the Twisted Vine base (26" height with a tall riser). This meticulously crafted shade was commissioned in 2017 by a client in California.   

18" Geometric Moorish Turban

At Century Studios, we recreate a wide variety of Tiffany Studios' geometric lamp designs. One of the more unusually shaped geometric patterns is the 18" Geometric Moorish Turban shade. This shade has a unique onion dome profile that begins quite small at the top and flows outwards before curving back in at the bottom. The geometric tiles are horizontally bisected by a decorative border row. To visually ground the design, the two border rows at the bottom have an arch motif.

This shade was created for the owners of the Youghiogheny Opalescent Glass Company in Pennsylvania and they provided us with a selection of six glasses from their line of True Dichroic sheet glass to work with. While related to one another, each of these glasses had their own distinctive coloration when viewed on the light table. We were given the freedom to employ as many of the colors as we wanted to and Irwin Terry took it as a challenge to use all six sheets to create a smooth color transition from top to bottom. Much time and care was taken to blend the colors together.

Shades with an undercut must be removed from the form in two pieces and put back together later in the soldering process. Once the upper interior is soldered, the lower half is reattached and the soldering is completed. We shot a short video showing Irwin attaching the lower portion of the shade in place.

The 18" Geometric Moorish Turban shade is shown on the Decorated Trumpet base (24" tall using a tall riser). The shape of the base is a perfect compliment to the shade.

 

Lamp of the Week: 16" Daffodil

The 16" Daffodil shade was designed without decorative border rows which gives the impression that the flowers are growing wild rather than in a formal garden. For this shade, we chose a sunny yellow background glass that deepens to an amber/green mix on the lower portion of the shade. The fresh green leaves and stems provide a crisp contrast to the warm amber tones in the shade. The shade is shown on the elegant Greek Urn base (overall lamp height 22"). We created this piece as a showroom example in 2017 and the lamp is now in a private local collection.

 

28" Peony

 

At Century Studios we schedule projects in the order we receive them, and often coincidences occur where we have similar shades following one after another. We featured the recently completed 22" Elaborate Peony  in our blog post last Sunday (October 31, 2021). While Bill Campbell worked on that shade, Irwin Terry began the layout of a 28" Peony cone for a different client.

At Tiffany Studios, lamps were designed to bring the excitement of stained glass windows off the walls and into the room - while still performing the functional service of providing light. The 28" cone shaped shades were intended as large chandelier fixtures that would be the focal point of any space they occupied. Most of these designs have patterns that flow across the entire surface of the shade with no pattern repeats. This inspires the lamp artist to respond to the changes in the design, searching out the choicest glasses and using them boldly.

The 28" Peony cone masterfully moves the viewer on a journey of exploration as the shade is viewed from different angles. One side has flowers so densely clustered that there is almost no background showing between the blooms. From another angle, the flower clusters loosen up and cascade across the curvature as if rustled by a gentle breeze. This area shows larger expanses of background and more leaves.

Our client expressed a desire for a boldly colored shade with an emphasis on red flowers supported by blues, purples and greens. After searching through our glass library, Irwin began the shade with the background glass, finding an unusual glass combining blue, green and fuschia that had areas of purple where the mauve, fuschia and blue mixed together. This combination of colors provided the perfect backdrop to enhance all the elements of the shade.

The main flower colors in the shade were chosen from several sheets that had a higher concentration of fuschia as their base, and were blended with a variety of colors. Once the main flowers were in place, additional red mixes were chosen for variety and purples were insinuated into the floral elements. Rippled glasses were used throughout the shade to add a lively textural element. The addition of bold green mixes for the leaves enlivened the design and gave the shade a lush, velvety tone. An unusual glass with a green/teal mix was chosen for the upper and lower borders to provide some extra zip to the shade.

Our client has chosen to use this shade as a large table lamp with the airy Arc base (28" tall) which is often referred to as the Eiffel Tower base.

Lamp of the Week: 20" Russian

 

The 20" Russian is one of Tiffany Studios "busy" shades, presenting a fretwork grill inset with round and arched openings. Viewed through the yellow/amber fretwork is an orange/amber sky splashed with lavender. This shade was made entirely from Lins glass, a glass company that closed in the late 1990's whose glass is prized by lamp artists. Shown on the Twisted Vine base (24.5" tall), the shade was created in 2004 and resides in a local collection.