25" Mandarin Lotus

We have completed the 25" Mandarin Lotus shade, a symmetrically complex piece with an undulating accordion pleat surface. Tiffany Studios fashioned the shade to represent a large lotus leaf, with each lead line representing a vein in the leaf. Our client in North Carolina requested the glass color for the shade to be deep green with a pronounced mottle.

 In 2012 we visited the Huntington Library and Gardens in California and snapped this photo in the Lily Pond Garden. It is difficult to get a sense of scale from the photo, but many of the large Lotus leaves are two feet in diameter, the same size as the shade.

As discussed in earlier posts, each of the 24 peaked ribs of the shade have a hand applied copper wire which accentuates the veining. The wires bisect seven times on their path from the small opening at the top to the wide outer edge.

The Mandarin Lotus base (also called the Ribbed Lotus base) represents the slender stalks that support the large leaves. This base was designed by Tiffany Studios specifically for this shade.

As sometimes happens, we created the shade for a client in North Carolina and the base for different client in Washington state. The two were briefly united for the above photos before being shipped to different sides of the country.

Lamp of the Week: 16" Jeweled Feather

The 16" Jeweled Feather is a Tiffany Studios shade design that at first glance appears to be a geometric shade but is actually an abstract feather design. The double band of jewels at the top give the shade an unexpected three dimensional quality. Created in warm greens and soft cream with green/amber accents, the shade is shown on the Small Stick base (20" tall). This lamp was created in 2014 and is now in a private collection.

Work Continues on Several Projects

Irwin Terry has been steadily working to complete the soldering on the 25" Mandarin Lotus shade. The final step was adding the half round copper wire to the irregular lower edge of the shade. The shade is now completely soldered and ready for cleaning and patina next week.

As the soldering progressed, Bill Campbell has been hard at work laying out the next lamps on our schedule, an 18" Oak Leaf and a 16" Peacock Feather. Both of these lamps are being created for clients.

Lamp of the Week: 10" Dogwood Ball

The 10" Dogwood Ball is one of Tiffany Studios more unusually shaped shades. The shade has a non-repeating design of intermingled flowers, leaves, and branches. For the densely clustered flowers we chose a variety of colorfully tinted white glasses. Enhancing the springtime appearance of the piece, the sparkling sky is a one of a kind fracture/streamer glass that scatters shots of green, purple, pink and light blue throughout the shade.

The 10" round shade is held aloft on the Artichoke Trumpet base by a special six pronged crutch (total lamp height 30.5"). This unusual lamp was created in 2022 and is now in a private collection in Texas.

25" Mandarin Lotus Part 2

Soldering continued this week on the 25" Mandarin Lotus shade. This step is slowed by the pleated surface of the shade, which must be positioned at a multitude of different angles for proper soldering since molten solder always runs downhill.

A flexible copper wire is carefully positioned on each of the 24 pleats, a painstaking process that requires patience and careful attention to detail. The wire defines each rib, starting at the top and running the vertical length of the shade. The challenge when applying the wire is to keep it running straight with no kinks on the uneven crest of each pleat. A stack of copper wires waiting to be added to the shade can be viewed on the soldering table.

At the halfway point of the shade, the 24 ribs split into 48 ribs, then split again into 96. At the lower edge of the shade, the 96 ribs split one last time, requiring additional short wires that will be applied once the shade is off the lamp form. Once all these wires are in place, the finish soldering on the exterior of the shade begins. 

The shade will be released from the lamp form early next week, and soldering will continue on the interior of the piece!