10" Pony Wisteria

The 10" Pony Wisteria lamp packs a lot of personality into a petite package. With over 870 individual pieces of glass, the shade has as many pieces as many of the large 22" shades patterns!

Bill Campbell meticulously chose every piece of glass, skillfully blending multiple richly toned glasses.

Once the glass was chosen, Irwin and Bill both worked on cutting, fitting, and foiling the shade. Irwin then proceeded to solder the shade while Bill began our next project.

This lamp was commissioned by a client in Georgia who requested a deeply saturated color palette. Rich purples and lavenders are blended with a deep pink/purple for the multitude of blossoms. The shade begins at the top with a crown of cast bronze branches from which the glass makes its decent. Accented branch work continues into the body of the shade, giving the piece a naturalistic look. The blossoms of the Pony Wisteria cascade down the sides of the shade, ending in an undulating lower edge. The lower edge is finished with a half round copper reinforcing wire which provides strength and a polished look to the bottom of the shade. 

This is one of Tiffany Studios' signature lamps, where shade and base seamlessly blend together to become a lit sculpture.

Lamp of the Week: 28" Laburnum

The 28" Laburnum is one of the largest reproduction Tiffany shades we create. With over 2000 individual pieces of glass, it is also one of the most time consuming shades to produce. The laburnum has an irregular lower edge, lending an air of naturalism to the piece. For this example we combined mottled glass in tones of yellow and amber for the hanging flower clusters. Spring greens and a pale blue sky keep the shade light and airy. This shade was commissioned in 2003 by a Midwest client for use as a floor lamp. The shade also makes a stunning chandelier fixture.

New Parts and Hardware

We continue to add new parts to our Century Studios line of reproduction Tiffany metalwork. We recently acquired an original Tiffany Studios 6" Bamboo Cap and are pleased to reproduce this very rare cap. Cast in bronze, our reproduction cap is an exotic accent atop any large shade, and provides the perfect finishing touch for our Bamboo Sr. Floor base.

Also added recently is the impressive 6" Pigtail Cap and the spun 2 1/4" Fitter Ring w/Lip for stained glass shades.

We offer a full selection of rings, wheels, caps, filigree, and cast parts available. For current pricing information, email us at info@centurystudios.com

 

Lamp of the Week: 14" Tulip

This 14" Tulip was commissioned by a local client in 2002. Purple tulips with fresh green leaves dance over the surface of the shade. The background glass used for this shade was a delicate peach and green mix with a lightly textured surface made by the Lins Glass Foundry in the 1990's. The shade is shown on the Tree Trunk Miniature base (17" tall).

22" Tulip, Part 2

 

The 22" Tulip shade has been completed and shipped to our client. In our post last week, we showed the construction process up to the point where the pieces were being hand foiled.

Work progressed steadily and once the foiling was complete, Bill Campbell moved on to work on the layout for our next shade while Irwin Terry transferred the foiled pieces onto the lamp form. To hold the individual pieces in place before soldering we coat the Fiberglas lamp form in a sticky beeswax preparation we make at our studio.

Once the exterior of the shade is completely soldered we heat the form to melt the sticky wax and remove the shade. Irwin then solders the interior of the shade. For large shades like the 22" Tulip, several reinforcing wires are soldered to the interior to provide the shade with additional support. The wires follow the curvature of the leadlines from top to bottom and are practically invisible when the shade is completed. The shade is now ready to be cleaned, copper plated, and have a verdigris patina applied to the leading.

The 22" Tulip design challenges the glass artist with a complex layout that can be interpreted in many ways. We have always felt that most satisfying approach to this pattern is to approach it like an Impressionist painting. The densely clustered flowers at the top of the shade are an intense mix of fuchsia, purple, orange and pink, each color used in conjunction with the others to excite the eye and draw the viewer closer. Moving down the shade the blooms become more recognizable as individual flowers and the colors lighten and shift into pinks and whites. Leaves and stems crowd the lower portion of the shade in a lively mix of green reinforcing the lushness of design.

Large shades require impressively proportioned bases and the Lion's Foot base (28" tall, telescopes taller) has an open, elegant visual profile that perfectly compliments the 22" Tulip shade.

Lamp of the Week: 18 Turtleback

Turtleback lamps can be created in many colors, shapes, and sizes. This 18" Turtleback shade features lively green/blue/white background of ripple glass. The texture of the glass faces the inside of the shade, giving the outside an even, smooth surface. When illuminated, shade undergoes a visual transformation, becoming a highly textured lamp. The shade is shown on the Twisted Vine base. This lamp was commissioned by a Midwest client in 2015.

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22" Tulip, Part 1 The Layout

Even though the weather has been chilly, wet and gloomy all through the month of April this spring, inside the studio it has been bright and colorful. We have been working steadily on a large 22" Tulip shade for a client. This shade has 1125 individual pieces of glass, each of which is laid out and cut to fit the pattern one piece at a time by hand.

The 22" Tulip is one of Tiffany Studios' more challenging floral designs, with tightly clustered flowers filling the top of the shade. Our client requested a dramatic color shift for the pink flowers so Irwin Terry began the layout with saturated tones of fuchsia, purple and orange at the very top that lighten and incorporate lighter pinks and white as they move down the shade.

For this design, three sectional repeats make up the shade. The gapping seen in the lower portion of each repeat is needed so the design can fit onto the curvature of the three dimensional lamp form.

With the layout completed, we began foiling each piece of glass. For a lamp this size the process of foiling will take days to complete, even with both of us working together. Bill Campbell is seen foiling a section. Foiling is a visual and manual process, so we often listen to audiobooks while we foil shades.

We will show the next steps and finished lamp in an upcoming post.

Lamp of the Week: 22" Wisteria

Tiffany Studios created Wisteria lamps in several sizes and shapes. One of the most versatile of these is the 22" Wisteria which can be a table lamp, chandelier, or floor lamp. Commissioned in 2002 by a Chicago area client, the cascading flowers in this shade have a variety of blue, purple, lavender, and white tones. The irregular lower edge gives the shade a naturalist look.  The shade is shown on the telescoping Perforated base (26" tall, but telescopes higher).

Bonus Lamp of the Week: 22" Dragonfly

 

Over the past few weeks, we have been working on several projects that will be featured in upcoming posts. 

This 22" Dragonfly shade was created as a showroom lamp in 2016. The warm golden ripple texture was a unique run of Youghiogheny Circa 1900 glass that was only made once. Shown on the Perforated base (26" tall, telescopes higher), this lamp is now in a private collection.