Last Week

Things have been moving along in the new studio space. Upstairs, the glass rack is working its way skyward at the back half of the studio. Bill has been painting the grey walls on the lower level a bright, crisp white.

Early last week, we completed our "Four Seasons" window project for a client in Wisconsin. The four individual panels depict scenes around Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, along with areas of personal interest for our client.

Bill has begun working on a large window for a New York client, while Irwin has been continuing several lamp projects. We have been trying to figure out a way to get a few more hours into each day of the week!

16" Pansy, Part 2

The 16" Pansy lamp which was commissioned by a Minnesota couple has been completed (see posting on 1/12/09 for "Part 1" of this shade's construction). Once the foiled pieces of glass had been transferred onto the waxed form, Irwin soldered the shade. When the soldering was completed, the shade was cleaned, plated, patinated and is now ready for pick-up.

This Pansy shade is going on a wonderful Tiffany reproduction base - The Vial Base. Using molds taken from an original Tiffany example, the metalwork is made and is then given to a glass blower who heats the metal before blowing the green glass into the framework. Tiffany Studios created quite a few "reticulated" lamp base designs using this technique.

Like most of the 16" Tiffany shade designs, the Pansy can be used on many different lamp bases. In 2006, we made a Pansy shade for our showroom in which the colors of the shade were made to go with our version of a Tiffany Lily Pad Base. Tiffany Studios created Lily Pad bases with blown glass inserts, but for this base we had Ephraim Faience Pottery create a ribbed pottery insert. The unique look of the pottery and bronze complimented the shade. This lamp is now in a private local collection.

16" Pansy, Part 1

While Bill is laying out the remaining two panels of the "Four Seasons" windows for our Wisconsin client, Irwin has been working on several geometric shades, as well as a floral design at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking!

The floral shade nearing completion is a 16" Pansy for a local client. The pansy is a plant that readily lends itself to stained glass due to the bright colors of the flowers. Irwin is busy cutting some red flower petals for the shade in the photo to the left.

This Tiffany Studios design has four repeats to complete the 16" shade. At the right is an image of the four sections on the light table for final inspection before the foiling of each piece begins. This shade has many tiny pieces, especially the flower centers, which are little more than chips of glass which must be shaped by hand to fit the pattern.

Irwin is well under way with the foiling and next will be transferring the pieces onto the waxed form followed by the soldering of the shade. We'll post more pictures as the shade is completed.

Happy New Year!

It is now 2009 and Century Studios is back up and running on our normal schedule.

Just before Christmas, we signed a lease for our new studio space in St. Paul, MN. We will update our blog as work on the new space progresses. We hope to move the studio in the spring, and there is a lot of work to get done before then! Until we move, please stop in at our current location, give a call, or send us an email with any questions you may have about Century Studios!

Our new space will be in the former home of "Happy Feet Shoe Repair".