Recently, we have been busy laying out a 28″ Poinsettia shade. This unusual Tiffany Studios design has an allover pattern of poinsettia plants in full bloom. For more information on the other styles of Tiffany reproduction Poinsettia shade patterns we offer, see our postings from December 8 & 19, 2008.
Considered a holiday plant today, poinsettias are flowering perennial shrubs native to Mexico, where they can grow to ten feet tall in natural settings. According to the University of Illinois “Poinsettia Pages”, the plant is named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first ambassador to Mexico in the 1820’s. Mr. Poinsett found the distinctive plant growing along a roadside and took cuttings back to his South Carolina greenhouse, where he cultivated the plant.
The 28″ cone shape provides a generous surface for the plants to blossom across. A portion of the lamp is pictured (above right) showing how we check colors on our light table. A glass easel is used to support the individual pieces of glass that have been cut and fit to the pattern.
Once we are satisfied with our color selections, the individual pieces of glass are wrapped by hand in copper foil. To hold the pieces in place for soldering, the fiberglass form is waxed with a “tacky wax” which we mix at our studio. Irwin is brushing the hot tacky wax onto the form in the photo to the left.
The tacky wax allows us to position the individual pieces of glass in position on the form so the pieces can be soldered together. Below is a photo of Irwin transferring the foiled pieces from the glass easel onto the waxed form. We will show the completed lamp in a future posting.
