Year End at Century Studios

 

As 2021 draws to a close, we would like to take this time to thank all our clients for your support and for the interesting projects that keep us excited to get to the studio every day. We also want to thank everyone who follows us on social media for their "likes" and uplifting comments. 

Century Studios will be closed Friday December 24 through Monday January 3. We will resume regular business hours on Tuesday January 4.

The 28" Poinsettia shade pictured was created in 2009 for a client in Illinois.

 

Mosaic Bases

As the end of the year approaches we have been diligently working to complete projects. Bill Campbell has been working on a couple of mosaic lamp bases for clients and is very happy that he has them completed. Traditionally used with the 16" Dragonfly shade, this Dragonfly Mosaic Urn was commissioned by a New York client to be used with an 18" Clematis shade. The glass mosaic on the base has a lustre surface and the color shifts from blue to green.

Century Studios will be open regular hours until Thursday December 23. We will be closed from December 24th through January 3 and will resume regular business hours on Tuesday January 4.

 

Lamp of the Week: 18" Poinsettia

Poinsettia flowers are traditionally considered a seasonal plant but they were a favorite subject for Tiffany Studios lamp designs and appear on multiple sizes of shades. The 18" Poinsettia shade has a wide band of flowering plants on the lower half of the shade with a prominent trellis above. For this shade, bold tones of blue, green, and red are combined for a striking lamp. The shade is shown on the elegant Library base (22.5" tall). The lamp was commissioned by a client in Massachusetts in 2017.

14" Geranium

Like the ubiquitous plant that inspired this lamp design, the 14" Geranium is a compact shade that packs a big punch. Masses of leaves cover the body of the shade, with flower clusters appearing only in the upper third of the design. The sunny yellow of the background insinuates itself throughout the shade. The clustered leaves are composed from heavily mottled green mixes. To balance the colors in the shade, we pulled the deep cherry reds of the flower colors into the background and leaf glasses. The shade is shown on the Lummis base (18.5" tall).

This lively shade was commissioned by a local client who wanted a shade for his original Tiffany Studios floor base. The 42" tall base is the perfect height to stand next to a low chair as a reading lamp.

 

This Week at the Studio

 

The days have been packed this past week at the studio. As Irwin Terry continued work on a shade, Bill Campbell spent time preparing waxes for our trip to the foundry. The waxes had been created the previous week by Irwin and each wax has to be cleaned up by hand before they can be turned into bronze lamp parts. The pieces shown in the photo above show fewer than half of the waxes we will be taking to the foundry on Monday.

While we were busily working on our projects, two cases of glass arrived from the Youghiogheny Opalescent Glass Company in Pennsylvania. We stopped what we were doing to unpack the new glass - you can see some waxes on our work table next to the crate.

It is always exciting to open glass shipment. Each sheet of glass is taken from the crate and checked out before being incorporated into our extensive library of glass.

We are showing just a few sheets of glass that will be used in upcoming projects. Seeing each sheet of glass as it emerges from the crates is an inspirational experience that gets us excited to begin work on the next project.
 

Lamp of the Week: 22" Poinsettia

 

The 22" Poinsettia (commonly called the Double Poinsettia) combines large expressive flowers blooming within a formal trellis. A variety of reds tinged with blue, purple, and yellow were chosen to give the flowers a fanciful, sun dappled appearance. The light blue background glass at the top of the shade deepens to purple mixed with amber at the bottom of the shade. Defining the design and unifying these colors is the trellis with its hints of blue, amber, and green. Created as a showroom piece in 2015 the shade is shown on the Perforated base (24" tall) and is now in a private collection. The fanciful "pigtail" cap gives the visual profile of the lamp added interest.