10" Turtleback

At Century Studios, we create turtleback shades in many shapes and sizes. These simple geometric shades are given star treatment with the addition of hand cut and chipped turtleback tiles. Commissioned by a local client, this 10" Turtleback shade has a burning ember orange/amber background. The three dimensional turtleback band is made from a set of unusual translucent amber tiles which have an ethereal, smokey quality. The shade is shown on the Ruffle base.

Lamp of the Week: 20" Arrowhead

With a pattern that is both representational and stylized, the 20" Arrowhead shade has a distinct arts and crafts appeal. The arrowhead plant is found in shallow wetlands, which places this design firmly in the water plant group of Tiffany Studios shade designs. The distinctive leaves for which the plant is named reach toward the top of the shade. Delicate white flowers populate the spaces between the leaves. The decorative borders at the bottom of the shade reinforce the arts and crafts motif. This example was commissioned in 2005 by an out of state client. The pottery base was custom made for this shade by Ephraim Pottery.

Geometric Lamps

We have been busy working on multiple projects at the same time. Irwin cut five geometric shades and we are working on these as well as a large floral shade. The first of the small geometric lamps to be completed is a 7" Jeweled Geometric shade on a Piano Lamp Base. Our client in Oregon requested a blue shade for this accent lamp. We pressed the three dimensional glass jewels used in the shade.

The 7" shade can be seen along side some of the other geometric shades waiting for completion. The blank spaces on the domes will be filled in with either decorative acorn bands or turtleback tiles.

Lamp of the Week: 14" Geranium

Brightly colored and requiring little care, geraniums are the flower of choice for summer pots, planters and porches. The 14" Geranium is a compact shade that celebrates this ubiquitous flower, elevating it to star status. This example, created for a local client in 2013, has a bright personality. The cheerful red flowers pop against the sunny yellow background. A wide variety of mottled and rippled green glasses with an undercurrent of red are used for the distinctive foliage.

22" Dragonfly

With its generous proportions, irregular lower edge, jewel encrusted surface, and filigreed dragonfly wings, the 22" Dragonfly shade has all the bells and whistles one could wish for in a stained glass shade. The shade is shown on the impressive Perforated base. Created as a piece for our showroom, this lamp is currently available for purchase from our studio.

The background is cut from an unusual silver-yellow ripple glass. When silver is used as a glass colorant, the result is a warm, amber yellow hue. We acquired the glass for this shade several years ago and have been saving it until we had time to create this shade. The dragonfly wings are also cut from a silver-yellow that has a touch of gold pink added to intensify the color.

We had the dragonfly jewels pressed specifically for this shade. The lightly colored jewels have a gold lustre surface that blends with the background glass. The finished jewels have a butterscotch hard candy look that is unique.

In the photo below, Irwin can be seen transferring the foiled pieces onto the waxed form in preparation for soldering. Large shades get extra reinforcing to ensure the long term stability of the shade. A thick half round copper wire is used to finish the lower edge of the shade, adding stability and giving the bottom of the shade a proper finished edge.

Faerie Magazine

Century Studios was featured in the Winter 2015 issue of Faerie Magazine. Faerie Magazine is a quarterly print publication that celebrates enchantment and real life fairy tales. The three page color spread has a short article about Century Studios which is illustrated with a number of stained glass windows and a lamp. Subscriptions and back issues of the magazine are available at www.faeriemag.com.

22" Dogwood

Large floral shades represent the best lamp designs created by Tiffany Studios. Inspiration, painstaking attention to detail, and much time is needed to successfully execute a large floral shade. We recently completed this 22" Dogwood shade. The completed shade is shown (above) on the Perforated base. This large base has six lights and telescopes so that it can be set at different heights. We began this shade as a piece for our showroom, but midway through the construction one of our local clients stopped into the studio and purchased the shade.

Bill Campbell took on the challenge of selecting the layout for this shade, a process that began with choosing background glass that would support the flower colors. In the end, Bill carefully blended five different glasses together to create an impressionistic backdrop for the flower colors. Once the background was in place, flowers were added individually to the layout.

The completed layout was put together on the light table to give the colors a final check before the process wrapping the edge of each individual piece of glass in a thin copper foil. Irwin then transferred the foiled pieces onto the wax covered form and soldered the shade together.

 

The completed 22" Dogwood from above. This design has an unusual configuration of border rows at the top of the shade. The glass for the borders was carefully chosen to enhance the colors of the finished shade.