Holiday Hours

Century Studios Holiday Hours:

Closed Thanksgiving Day, Thursday November 28

Regular Business Hours

Friday November 29 through Saturday December 21

Closed Sunday December 22 through Wednesday January 1

Current Projects at the Studio

This past week at the studio, we have been working on several projects at the same time. After foiling a 20" Azalea shade, Irwin moved on to the next step of soldering the shade.

After more than a year of waiting, we finally received the casting for an Odysset Dragonfly Mosaic Urn base Bill began the painstaking task of applying the glass mosaic to the casting so the completed lamp can soon be on its way to our client.

We will show the completed lamps in the coming weeks.

Lamp of the Week: 12" Acron

With its straight forward geometric background and decorative band, Acorn shades have always been a favorite Tiffany lamp pattern. The Acorn shade was originally called a Vine pattern, but today everyone refers to this design as an acorn. This 12" Acorn shade is more vine-like in coloration with a lush green lightly mottled background and darker green acorns (or leaves). Complimenting the shade is the finely detailed Chinese base (16" tall). The design for this base matches the Chinese desk set pieces created by Tiffany Studios. We created this lamp in 2010 for a client in New York City.
 

22" Maple Leaf

With a slight chill in the air and the trees changing from green to technicolor tones of red, yellow and orange, Fall is the most glorious time of year to take a long walk outdoors. This colorful season was the inspiration when Bill Campbell designed the 22" Maple Leaf shade in 2012.

Commissioned by a client in California, the shade captures the day when the leaves have changed color but have not yet dropped. A brilliant blue sky is seen through the tree branches at the top, giving way to an explosion of brightly colored leaves. The shade is shown on the Grooved base (28" height with tall riser).

This shade captures the glories of a Fall afternoon without the need to break out the rake.

Lamp of the Week: 20" Poppy

The 20" Poppy is one of the most popular Tiffany Studios shade designs. The flowers in this shade are a mix of amber, orange, and purple. Hints of blue enliven the flower centers and petals. The golden background imparts a warm glow. Filigree on both the leaves and flower centers give the shade a unique appearance. We created this shade as a showroom piece over 25 years ago using Lins glass. The shade is shown on the Twisted Vine base (24.5" tall). This lamp is in a private collection.

What is in the Showroom?

With the holidays fast approaching, we receive many requests asking what is available in our showroom. Here are the pieces that we have made up.

At the top of the page is the impressive 28" Grape Trellis Chandelier. This generously proportioned shade displays a colorful mix of color and texture in the glass selection. On the left in the above photo is the the 9" Iris Torchiere. The central image shows the 12" Zodiac shade on the Torpedo base. Both the Iris and Zodiac are original Century Studios shade designs. To the right is the delicate 9" wide Chain Mail Lantern. The length of this fixture can be adjusted as needed.

The two 16" domed shades shown above can be used with many different bases. To the left is the 16" Apple Blossom on the Greek Urn base, while on the right is the colorful 16" Woodbine on a one of a kind Pottery and Bronze base that we made for our showroom.

The 17" Bat shade hovers expectantly over the sculptural Bat Mosaic base. The 12 Light Lily Table lamp will provide a warm glow to any room. We also have a 5 Light Ceiling Lily, 7 Light Lily Chandelier, and 8 Light Octopus Lily Chandelier and a 5 Light Lily Wall Sconce, and two single chain pendant fixtures with blown glass shades on display (not pictured here).

The 20" Waterlily on the Grooved base is a year long reminder of the lazy days of summer.

 All of these lamps are currently on display in our showroom and are available for immediate purchase.

Lamp of the Week: 22" Peony on Mosaic Turtleback base

The peony was a favorite Tiffany floral motif, and the showy flowers appear with frequency in mosaics, windows and lamps. The distinctive bloom has over 40 varieties and is known as the "flower of riches and honor". Peony flowers come in a wide range of colors, inspiring the glass artist to showcase spectacular glass when creating a shade. For this 22" Peony, a variety of orange/red, yellow/red, and textured deep blood red glasses set the flowers off against a purple/blue background. Rippled border rows enhance the three dimensional quality of this shade. This lamp was commissioned in the early 1990's by a local client and this was the first Mosaic Turtleback base we created at our studio. At that time, we used Studio Disselhoff to cast the metalwork. The glass mosaic and setting the band of illuminated turtleback tiles were completed at our studio. Since acquiring the casting molds from Studio Disselhoff in February 2000, we now make the entire base at Century Studios.

Creating a Century Studios Tiffany Reproduction Lamp Base

At Century Studios, we now make all of the Tiffany reproduction lamp bases we offer. At our studio, each base is made individually using the lost wax investment casting process. Our bases are cast in bronze at a local foundry, with brass and copper components incorporated into each base. Creating a lamp base has many steps, from pouring the waxes to wiring the base, all of which is all done by hand. Each of our bases will take several months to complete. We will be showing parts from several different lamp bases in this post, but we will begin with the Square Turtleback base.

The process of creating the bronze castings for the Square Turtleback base begins with a quarter section rubber mold that was made from an original Tiffany lamp base. We pour four sections in foundry wax, a dark brown wax that is firm, yet pliable. The mold is filled, and when cool each wax is checked and cleaned by hand to eliminate any imperfections such as air bubbles that might appear on the surface of the wax part.

For this base a second mold is used to create the light cluster stem in wax. Because the stem must be hollow, the wax is poured into the mold, swirled around and poured back out several times, building up thin layers of wax until the desired wall thickness for the part has been achieved. The hot wax must be at just the right temperature so it coats but does not melt the previous layer. Once all the waxes are cast, the parts are then taken to our local bronze foundry. For the next steps, we will be using a Mermaid base as an example.

At the foundry, the waxes are "gated". Wax rods are attached to the pieces to create a pathway for the bronze to enter the mold while the air in the mold has an escape route. Once the wax gateways have been added, the process of creating the mold begins by dipping the wax into a thin silica slurry that completely coats the surface. After the first layer of slurry has dried, the dipping process will be repeated about 13 times until the mold reaches the desired thickness. Successive layers are added in a more viscous silica slurry and the mold is strengthened by the addition of a crystalline silica which  gives the finished mold the appearance of stucco. Once completely dry, the piece is set into a kiln and the wax is melted out, hardening the shell in the process.

While hot, the molds are stood up in a large sand box and the molten bronze is gently poured into each hot mold. The bronze is heated in a furnace to 2200 degrees and a crucible of molten bronze is moved over the top of each mold and tipped to pour the bronze. In the photo, Irwin Terry is carefully pouring the bronze into one of the molds. Irwin is on the left wearing the green hard hat, and is mostly blocked from view by the man in charge of the pour. This photo was taken at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2001 where Irwin took several classes in bronze casting so we would be able to have a first hand understanding of the process and be able to interact knowledgeably with our local foundry.

Here is a link to a video of a bronze pour which was made at the foundry we use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eSYMdWkTnw

Once the bronze has cooled to room temperature, the investment mold is broken away and the raw bronze casting is revealed. The gating is still visible on this Mermaid base, and not all of the investment mold material has been removed. After the gates are removed, the process of chasing (hand cleaning) and finishing the raw bronze parts will begin.

 
The gates and excess investment mold material removed, the parts are now ready to have a final cleanup. Drilling and tapping will occur at this stage as parts are being fit together. For the Square Turtleback base, a spun copper collar is added that will support the light cluster stem. In the photo above, we still have not drilled the light stem and added the light cluster arms and sockets. To reproduce the Square Turtleback base shown above, we employ the talents of our bronze foundry, a metal spinner for the spun copper collar, and a glass maker to press the turtleback tiles.

Each part used in a lamp base is then patinated to give the pieces a Tiffany finish. The patina process takes several days and each part is waxed by hand before final assembly. The electrical are added and the base is ready for a shade.