20" Acorn Shade

Over the years we have seen several original Tiffany Studios' shades and bases come into our studio. We have also been fortunate to have been invited by clients to see their treasures in their homes. It is always a thrill to see an original Tiffany lamp "up close and personal".

Recently, we had a couple bring in an original Tiffany Studios 20" Acorn shade. The shade had been hanging as a chandelier fixture in their dining room (as is often the case, the chandelier fixture was not period), and they wanted to convert the shade into a table lamp.

After reviewing the multiple base options, our clients chose one of our Grueby reproduction pottery bases. The proportions of the base worked beautifully with this large shade. The pottery portion of this lamp base was created for Century Studios by Ephraim Faience Pottery, and the wonderful matte green glaze perfectly complements the green acorns and amber/orange tones in the background of the shade.

By The Seaside Window

We have completed the large, multi-layered window inspired by the painting By The Seaside by Pierre Auguste Renoir. This Impressionist masterpiece presented several exciting challenges as we translated the piece into a stained glass window.

Impressionist paintings are all about color and the play of light on the scenes being depicted. When touring our studio, we often tell visitors that the best renditions of Tiffany floral lamp designs occur when the color is selected in an Impressionist palette. The same holds true for windows. When selecting the glass for this style of window, the piece becomes more about the way the colors and textures are blended than about being too literal. When chosen and executed properly, this style of working gives the finished window (or lamp) a liveliness and a spark of excitement. The element of surprise delights the viewer and allows them to see something different in the finished work every time they look at it.















This window was commissioned by a couple in New York City and is housed in a custom made light box that will hang on their wall as a "lit painting". The photo above shows Irwin soldering on the back side of the window before adding the additional plated layers of glass to the front of the piece.

Oz Window Completed

The Oz window is completed and in place. The finished window can be seen in the photo above. In the picture to the right, Bill is foiling the pieces in preparation for soldering. To the left, Irwin is seen finish soldering on the back of the window. Once the soldering was done, the window was cleaned and a darkening patina was applied to the solder lines to turn them black rather than silver.

The window is now in place in a window seat on the finished attic/third floor of our home, waiting for trim molding to cover the outside edge. The window will primarily be seen at close range, due to the placement within the room. The photo on the right was taken at night with a flash, showing how the window looks when it isn't lit by sunlight.

Oz Window, Part 2

Over the past week, Bill has completed cutting and fitting all the pieces for the Oz window. He has also finished all the painting and firing, so it's ready to start assembling. Above, you can see the window laying on a light table - the window is wider than the table, so the entire image isn't lit. The shadow running down the center of the window is a support bar in the table.

In the photo to the right, Bill is hand painting the face of the Hungry Tiger. When painting and firing on glass, the glass chosen must first be tested by firing a sample piece in the kiln to make sure the color and transparency does not change. You can see in the photo that Bill has blocked in the areas he wants to paint, then has to go back in to add color, texture and shading with the glass paints. This process takes a lot of skill and patience. The photo below shows the completed face.

So what has Irwin been doing all this time? Well, he was soldering the Renoir By the Sea window and then he has been working on a small lamp for a local client - more on those projects in later postings!

Wisteria Window

A recently completed window project was a larger Wisteria window for a local client. The design of the window was loosely based on the Wisteria windows which graced the breakfast room of Louis Comfort Tiffany's home in Long Island, New York. The original windows were part of a traveling exhibition a few years ago, and are now permanently installed in the Morse Museum in Winter Park, Fl.

Our window was created to be installed over the front door to our client's home. The roof had a significant overhang to shelter the front stoop, so the colors of the window were kept light and airy. The photo to the right shows the completed window before installation on the light table at the studio.

Oz Window

As Irwin completes the soldering on the Renoir window (see posting from June 28, 2010), Bill has been starting a large "Oz" stained glass window. This window is based on the Oz Parade, shown on the left, a mural painted by John R. Neill in the 1930's.

John R. Neill was an illustrator who is best remembered for illustrating 35 titles in the Oz book series beginning in 1904 and continuing until his death in 1943. Mr. Neill also wrote 3 books in the "official" series. He did not illustrate the first Oz book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, which was published in 1900. It is hard to find a person today that is not familiar with the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland, and the original Oz books are still widely collected. There is even an International Wizard of Oz Club which celebrates all things Oz!

The original mural painting may or may not still exist, but there are a number of watercolor sketches for the painting in different collections. Bill has always enjoyed the parade of colorful characters shown in the sketches, and wanted to create his own Oz Mural in glass.

Above, you can see the working cartoon for the window. The cartoon is the basic pattern or blueprint used for cutting the glass and layout. The cartoon has been given a general coloring, but the final details are not seen in this pattern. Bill has decided to brighten up the glass color selections in the finished window, but the idea is to keep it as Neill-like as possible!

12" Acorn Lamp

Last week, we completed a 12" Acorn shade for a New York City client. Tiffany Studios created Acorn shades in many sizes including 10", 12", 14", 16" and larger. We are pleased to offer all of these sizes for our clients today.

The Acorn shade was originally called a Vine pattern, but today everyone refers to this design as an acorn. The shade we created is more vine-like in coloration with a lush green background and darker green acorns (or leaves).

The base chosen by our client for this shade is our reproduction Chinese base. The design for this base matches the Chinese desk set pieces created by Tiffany Studios.

Upon receiving the lamp, our client wrote, "It surpasses my expectations. The glass is wonderful as is the base. It was well worth waiting for."