Work has been progressing on the 18″ Lotus Lamp which Irwin has been creating. Once all four sections were cut and fit, the time consuming work of hand wrapping each individual piece of glass in copper foil began.
Following the foiling of each piece of glass, the lamp pieces have been transferred onto the three dimensional form and put into place. The fiberglass form has been coated with an exclusive Century Studios’ beeswax mixture that allows the wax to become tacky so it will hold the glass pieces in place. Once the entire lamp is transferred onto the form, Irwin will begin soldering the lamp shade.
Tiffany Studios designed a unique lamp base for the 18″ Lotus shade. Beginning with a cluster of cast bronze lily pads at the bottom, ten “stems” move up inside the shade and curve back downwards, each stem ending in a light socket. Because of the depth of this shade, the lights form two undulating rows which light the upper and lower portions of the lamp. As with many early Tiffany Lamp designs which had specific shade and base combinations, this base can only be used with the 18″ Lotus shade.
A smaller version of this base was created for the 16″ Snowball shade. The bronze lily pad base is more petite than the larger version and has six lights instead of ten. Once again, three lights are positioned towards the top while the remaining three cascade down to light the lower portion of the shade.
At Century Studios, we make both versions of this unusual Tiffany base in bronze with a verdigris patina. The light switch on these bases is a cast bronze lily pad located in the cluster of foliage near the bottom of the lamp.
