Dragonfly shades are made in more sizes than almost any other Tiffany Studios design motif. Even well into the 1920’s when Tiffany Studios had all but disbanded the lamp department, they were still filling orders for dragonfly shades. The largest of the dragonfly designs we recreate are the 28″ cones.
We offer two different 28″ Dragonfly shade designs, one where the insects are flying downward and the other with them swirling upwards in a whirlwind pattern. Both of these shades were originally designed to be used as chandelier fixtures, and can be created with a number of different hanging fixture variations. The simplest fixture has a single chain that attaches the shade to a ceiling canopy. There are more elaborate fixtures that have the shade hanging from 3 chains.
On both of these designs, the backgrounds are studded with a number of pressed glass “jewels”. Tiffany Studios made their own glass jewels in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. At Century Studios, we also have pressed our own dragonfly jewels. Using bronze molds made off original Tiffany jewels, glass is heated in a furnace and is shaped in the molds using a hand press. This gives our dragonfly shades an authentic look.
The picture on the right shows Irwin removing a palette of just pressed, red-hot jewels from a mold.
The 28″ cone shades occasionally will be used as floor lamps or very large table lamps instead of chandelier fixtures. On the left is a photo of the “flying down” dragonfly on a large turtleback base.
The “flying down” dragonfly shade was completed in June 2008 and the “flying around” dragonfly was made in 1996. Both are in private collections.
