Tiffany Shade

Well not exactly. Actually it is a modern shade based on a Tiffany pattern. I made it a long time ago. Recently I was telling a fellow blipper how much I loved stained glass and decided to blip this shade. It was the last shade I made. I made it late in the 1980s when we were living in Gilroy, California. You can see more detail in large.

When I lived on the East Coast in the Mid Hudson Valley, I visited some folks who made stained glass and fell in love with the beautiful glass in their studio. I decided to learn how to do it myself and located a teacher in Woodstock, NY who taught classes in their barn. Yes, it is the Woodstock, although those concerts really took place in Saugerties, NY, not Woodstock. They had to move the venue but still called it Woodstock. But I digress. I spent quite a few months, going to class once a week, and learned to make hangings, planters and simple shades.

Then we moved back to California where I grew up and ended in Gilroy. In town there was a really great glass store and the owners gave demos and helped people with projects. My skills improved and I decided to make a Tiffany shade. The first one I gave to my brother Steve and he still has it. Then I made this one for myself.

Not only did the store rent the molds which they prepared with wax for use in making the shades, they sold patterns and glass and helped figure out the best colors to use. They also had a special relationship with Oceana Glass, a really amazing glass company in Santa Cruz, CA, and had samples from them available to buy. That gorgeous blue background was such a sample.

To make the shade, you cut out the glass pieces based on the pattern, wrap copper foil around the edges of each piece and position it on the plastic mold. The wax holds each piece in place. When all the pieces are cut and in place, you flux and solder them together on the outside of the mold. Getting the shade off the mold is difficult. You heat the mold and it melts the wax. Since the mold was larger than my oven, it was interesting figuring how to get the mold and shade hot enough to break the suction under the shade and gently pull it off. When the shade is off the mold, you solder the inside of the shade and clean off all the wax. When it is all soldered you finish it to tone down the copper in the foil and the solder, edge it and voila! You have a shade. You also add the circular metal piece at the top. I bought the reproduction base that matched the original lamp from Tiffany. The shade fits perfectly on three arms of the base.

I have to admit that this shade is one of my very favorite things. I am pleased every time I see it. I feel great that I was able to make it and love how beautiful it is. It will be an heirloom for my son when I am no longer here to enjoy it.