Reproductions of Tiffany lampshades are hand-assembled, according to Louis Comfort Tiffany's method, the pieces of glass are welded to tin.
Tiffany lamps are composed of a metal foot on which rests a dome. It's a glass stained glass, or mosaic, dayshade.
The stained glass windows of the lamps are very complex, some lamps are composed of several hundred pieces of glass.
How is the lamp shade of a Tiffany lamp assembled?
No machine allows the assembly of the stained glass, the assembly of a lampshade is done by hand.
The glass comes in the form of a glass plate, the glasses are American style, they are handmade glasses in order to obtain a unique glass. The glasses are colorful, hammered, streaked and much more.
The patterns and decorations that make up the glass can only be made manually, the pieces are cut by hand, and then placed on a kind of mold that has the shape of the lampshade.
The shape having been made, the craftsman will wrap the edge of the piece of glass with a copper ribbon. Wrapping the copper ribbon will allow the pieces to be welded together. Thus the dome takes its final shape. The welds are finally lined to be smooth and shiny, usually covered with a black protective layer to avoid erosion. Welds are made with tin.
Here's the assembly of a Tiffany blind:
The lampshade consists of hundreds of glass pieces, this one must be collected to form the motifs.
To compose the stained glass window, we use different types of colored glasses, the most well-known:
- Draped glasses
- Favril glasses
- Opalin glasses
- Glass pasta
- Cabochons
A light fixture consists of many pieces of glass, even on a small Tiffany bedside lamp, a long assembly by hand is required.
pieces of tinted lenses that can make up a blind:
The stained glass window is formed from a large glass plate, this one is cut into many small pieces, to make the template proceed in stages:
- The glass artist drew a drawing with colors
- e drawing traces the shape of the patterns
- The design represents the line of the welds
- The colors of the pieces of glass
- The model is then reproduced on a real scale on a piece of cardboard
- The drawing is modeled and then cut
- Each template will be used to cut the right piece of glass.
- The stained glass window is assembled on a Styrofoam mould
- Welding is done
- A patina is applied to the weld, often black
The assembly thus made will constitute the lampshade of the light fixture. You can see on artisanart.com see the realization of a lampshade.
To buy a lamp with a Tiffany blind go sue our online sales site.