14" Peony

The 14" Peony is a compact shade with a large personality. Covered in large flowers and lush foliage, this pattern cries out for bold colors and textured glasses.

Heavily textured pink and red glasses enhance the flower's playful interaction with the verdant foliage. The lightly textured background dramatically shifts from sunny yellow to deep blue. The use of textures throughout the shade draw the viewer closer, creating an almost irresistible urge to experience the lamp through touch as well as sight.

The shade has been paired with the Penguin Foot w/Arms base. This lamp has been sold and is in a private collection in Texas.

Lamp of the Week: 22" Zodiac

Zodiac symbols were a popular design feature that adorned many items created by Tiffany Studios including mosaic panels, desk set items and lamps. The 22" Zodiac represents each of the twelve zodiac symbols with a brass filigree medallion. Additional decorative filigree medallions adorn the surface of the shade and each section of the shade has a large round turtleback tile.

For this shade the rope borders are a fiery amber tone and the areas inside each of these bordered vignettes is a lively mix of blue, yellow and green. The background areas are a rosy mixed purple giving the completed shade has a warm, friendly glow. The shade is pictured on the Large Lion's Foot base (28" tall). This lamp was created in 2022 and is now in a collection in North Carolina.

Spider Lamp

The 15" Spider is one of our most popular small lamps. Tiffany Studios originally labeled this shade Plain with Heavy Ribs for Base 337 (on their price lists "plain" is Tiffany-speak for geometric, base 337 is the Mushroom) but the inspiration for this design is obviously a long legged spider sitting atop its web in a garden. The cast bronze spider gives the shade a tactile thee dimensional look which is accentuated by the irregular lower edge.

The glass chosen for this shade dramatically shifts from green to deep amber. Original examples of this shade are almost always mated with the highly detailed Mushroom base (17" height) as indicated on the original price listing for the shade. This lamp was created for a client in Connecticut.
 

Lamp of the Week: 14" Chestnut

The 14" Chestnut is an original Century Studios shade pattern designed by Bill Campbell. The celadon green sky is tinged with peach, setting off the multi-toned green foliage and the pink and white flowers. Created in 2015 and now in a private collection, the shade is shown on the Shell Urn base (17" tall).

16" Peacock Feathr

We recently completed a 16" Peacock Feather lamp for a client in New Jersey. The shade is shown on the distinctive Bell Pepper base. A strong amber tone at the top of the shade quickly shifts through emerald green and then to blue. These colors are reflected in the peacock "eyes" that encircle the lower portion of the shade.

This boldly conceived Tiffany shade design combines a naturalistic peacock feather pattern with the repetitive symmetry of a geometric shade. The dome shaped shade has a flat surface, but the pattern produces the optical illusion that the surface is accordion pleated.

Lamp of the Week: 22" Turtleback

This 22" Turtleback Turban has a deep, brooding personality. The heavily mottled, richly colored red & green glass of the upper and lower geometric portions of the shade are the perfect backdrop for the band of black cherry colored turtlebacks. This distinctive shade is shown on the popular Perforated base (26" tall, telescopes taller). The addition of the corkscrew "pigtail" cap adds the finishing touch to this large table lamp. This lamp was created in 2018 and is in a private local collection.

Lamp of the Week - 18" Clematis and Studio Hours

The 18" Clematis is a beautifully designed Tiffany shade covered in large flowers. The shade has a non repeating pattern. We chose a wide variety of purples and blues for the flowers which are set against a green fracture glass background. In addition to ring mottled and streaky glass, rippled glass appears throughout the shade in the flowers, leaves, and flower centers. The shade is shown on the Small Stick base (20" tall). This lamp was created in 2017 is in a private local collection.

Studio Hours - Century Studios will be closed Saturday October 26 through Monday October 28. We will resume regular business hours on Tuesday October 29.

18" Oriental Poppy

We have completed the 18" Oriental Poppy lamp for our client in California. Red and orange poppy flowers with striking blue centers playfully cavort across the surface of the shade. Lush green foliage bursts forth from rich soil while the textured horizontal border rows provide structure to this colorful garden.

To complete the lamp, our client chose the Lummis base. The simplicity of the base compliments the highly detailed shade.

Lamp of the Week: 16" Turtleback

A classic Tiffany Studios design, the 16" Turtleback shade features a band of hand cut "turtleback" tiles against a geometric ground. The simplicity of the design is enhanced by the jewel like quality of the turtleback band. The shade is perfectly complimented by the Square Turtleback base which is illuminated from within. This lamp was created in 2014 and was acquired at that time by a West Coast client.

18" Oriental Poppy, Part 1

We have been making progress on an 18" Oriental Poppy shade for a client. Here is one section on the light table. The unusual spaces in the pattern are there so the pieces will fit snugly together when placed onto the dome shaped form.

Bill Campbell is busy foiling a section of the lamp.

For this shade, the section is repeated three times. 

Once all the pieces have been foiled, Irwin Terry transfers them one by one onto a Fiberglas lamp form that has been coated with our house made tacky wax. 

After all the pieces were fit onto the form, Irwin began soldering the shade. The completed lamp will be shown on a later post.

Lamp of the Week: 14" Arrowhead

The 14" Arrowhead is a compact shade that works well as an accent or bedside table lamp. Because of its stylized look, at first glance this Tiffany Studios design appears to be an abstract interpretation of natural subject when in fact it is a factual representation of a flowering water plant. Due to the distinctive shape of its leaves, the Arrowhead plant was a favorite motif of Arts & Crafts era designers and has become commonly known as "Arrowroot", a completely different species of plant that bears no physical resemblance to the plant depicted on the shade. The shade is shown on the Zodiac base (total lamp height 17"). This lamp was commissioned by a local client in 2020.

The lightly mottled green glass chosen for the leaves is gently streaked with amber yellow. The blue toned sky plays against the hints of red mixed with green in the lower background. Green upper and lower border rows tie all of the colors together, while the white flowers with bright yellow centers give the shade a pop of color.

 

18" Oak Leaf

The 18" Oak Leaf is a generously proportioned shade with a wide border of swirling leaves and acorns. Shown on the Decorated Library w/Arms base (total lamp height 25.5"), this impressive lamp is currently available for purchase from our studio showroom.

Note: Since posting, this lamp has sold and is no longer available.

The glass for this shade is a richly mottled, two toned woody amber that is cozy and welcoming. Culled from our extensive glass library, the glass used for this shade is from a line called Circa 1900 which was made by the Youghiogheny Glass Company and has been discontinued for years.

The decorative band is bookended between upper and lower sections of formal geometric glass tiles. Arranged in formal vignettes around the shade, the swirling symmetry of the leaves and acorns evokes the changing of the seasons. 

The shade can be used with an number of different lamp bases and is shown here on the elegant Library base (22.5" tall). 

Lamp of the Week: 17" Bat Variation

The 17" Bat - 6 Bat Variation shade has six bats clustered in flight. This shade is a variation on the 17" Bat lamp which features three bats flying against a night sky. Tiffany Studios created this variation by filling the sky portions of the standard three bat shade with additional bat bodies. When viewed from above, the wing tips of the six bats are intertwined in a kaleidoscopic effect.. Due to the extra bats vying for attention, this shade has almost no sky showing and the there are no stars present. The shade is shown on the Bat Stemmed Mosaic base (18" tall).  This lamp was commissioned by a client in North Carolina in 2015.

New Metalwork

Century Studios is pleased to introduce several new pieces to our line of reproduction bases and metalwork. 

Tiffany Studios designed three caps to go with the Bamboo Bases. With the addition of the 3" Bamboo Cap we now offer a full range of  Bamboo Caps and Bases. The three cap sizes are: 3" Bamboo (pictured right in the photo), 5" Bamboo (pictured left), and 6" (pictured top). All three caps are lost wax cast and are heavy, detailed castings.

These caps give the finishing touch to our selection of reproduction Tiffany bamboo lamp bases. The bases include (from left to right) the small Bamboo Table base (23" tall) for 16" shades. The large Bamboo Table base (27" tall) for 22" to 24" shades. The Bamboo Junior Floor base (60" tall, permanent 5" wheel) for 22" to 24" shades. The Bamboo Senior Floor base (64" tall, permanent 6"wheel) for 24" to 28" shades.

We are also pleased to introduce a new base to our line, the Decorated Trumpet with Arms. This is an elaborate variation of the Decorated Trumpet base. This base has an armset that holds an 18" shade.

The Decorated Trumpet (pictured left) is 22" tall. The Decorated Trumpet w/arms (pictured right) is 18" to the arms (total lamp height will vary depending on the shade).

Lamp of the Week: 24" Parasol

The 24" Parasol is one of the largest Tiffany reproduction geometric shades we offer. The simplicity of the design is accentuated by the flat metal rim which underlines the shade. At 29" in height, the Mandarin Lotus base creates a tall, elegant lamp where the shade appears to float above the table top. This lamp was created in a warm butterscotch tone and was made as a showroom piece in 2012. It is now in a private collection in Maine.

16" Poppy

The elegant simplicity of the 16" Poppy design makes it one of Tiffany Studios most pleasing lamp patterns. For this example we set brilliant scarlet flowers against a warm amber background. The lively green leaves and textured borders ground the design while the pierced metal filigrees add depth to the flower centers and leaves. Shown on the elegant Greek Urn base, this charming lamp was recently completed for a local client.

Lamp of the Week: 25" Salamander

The 25" Salamander is one of the more unusual Tiffany Studios shade patterns. The design has a strong Moorish influence, with the upper third of the lamp containing multiple border rows with repetitive shapes. A wide band with vignettes of salamanders decorates the main body of the shade. Taking inspiration from the legend that salamanders are born from fire, this shade is covered in flames within the decorative borders and flaring from the amphibians themselves. 

 
The deep midnight blue of the background provides a striking contrast to the red, orange, and yellows used throughout the shade. We created this lamp in 2019 for a client in Canada. The shade is shown on the Twisted Vine base (26" height).

25" Mandarin Lotus

We have completed the 25" Mandarin Lotus shade, a symmetrically complex piece with an undulating accordion pleat surface. Tiffany Studios fashioned the shade to represent a large lotus leaf, with each lead line representing a vein in the leaf. Our client in North Carolina requested the glass color for the shade to be deep green with a pronounced mottle.

 In 2012 we visited the Huntington Library and Gardens in California and snapped this photo in the Lily Pond Garden. It is difficult to get a sense of scale from the photo, but many of the large Lotus leaves are two feet in diameter, the same size as the shade.

As discussed in earlier posts, each of the 24 peaked ribs of the shade have a hand applied copper wire which accentuates the veining. The wires bisect seven times on their path from the small opening at the top to the wide outer edge.

The Mandarin Lotus base (also called the Ribbed Lotus base) represents the slender stalks that support the large leaves. This base was designed by Tiffany Studios specifically for this shade.

As sometimes happens, we created the shade for a client in North Carolina and the base for different client in Washington state. The two were briefly united for the above photos before being shipped to different sides of the country.

Lamp of the Week: 16" Jeweled Feather

The 16" Jeweled Feather is a Tiffany Studios shade design that at first glance appears to be a geometric shade but is actually an abstract feather design. The double band of jewels at the top give the shade an unexpected three dimensional quality. Created in warm greens and soft cream with green/amber accents, the shade is shown on the Small Stick base (20" tall). This lamp was created in 2014 and is now in a private collection.

Work Continues on Several Projects

Irwin Terry has been steadily working to complete the soldering on the 25" Mandarin Lotus shade. The final step was adding the half round copper wire to the irregular lower edge of the shade. The shade is now completely soldered and ready for cleaning and patina next week.

As the soldering progressed, Bill Campbell has been hard at work laying out the next lamps on our schedule, an 18" Oak Leaf and a 16" Peacock Feather.

Lamp of the Week: 10" Dogwood Ball

The 10" Dogwood Ball is one of Tiffany Studios more unusually shaped shades. The shade has a non-repeating design of intermingled flowers, leaves, and branches. For the densely clustered flowers we chose a variety of colorfully tinted white glasses. Enhancing the springtime appearance of the piece, the sparkling sky is a one of a kind fracture/streamer glass that scatters shots of green, purple, pink and light blue throughout the shade.

The 10" round shade is held aloft on the Artichoke Trumpet base by a special six pronged crutch (total lamp height 30.5"). This unusual lamp was created in 2022 and is now in a private collection in Texas.

25" Mandarin Lotus Part 2

Soldering continued this week on the 25" Mandarin Lotus shade. This step is slowed by the pleated surface of the shade, which must be positioned at a multitude of different angles for proper soldering since molten solder always runs downhill.

A flexible copper wire is carefully positioned on each of the 24 pleats, a painstaking process that requires patience and careful attention to detail. The wire defines each rib, starting at the top and running the vertical length of the shade. The challenge when applying the wire is to keep it running straight with no kinks on the uneven crest of each pleat. A stack of copper wires waiting to be added to the shade can be viewed on the soldering table.

At the halfway point of the shade, the 24 ribs split into 48 ribs, then split again into 96. At the lower edge of the shade, the 96 ribs split one last time, requiring additional short wires that will be applied once the shade is off the lamp form. Once all these wires are in place, the finish soldering on the exterior of the shade begins. 

The shade will be released from the lamp form early next week, and soldering will continue on the interior of the piece!