Since a few of the folks here have an interest in Lamps, Maybe Ernie and Rebecca could show us a few. Would like to see some of your work, Ernie, and maybe a few words about what you do and how you do it.
Since a few of the folks here have an interest in Lamps, Maybe Ernie and Rebecca could show us a few. Would like to see some of your work, Ernie, and maybe a few words about what you do and how you do it.
Sorry Boris, but the only example of any of my shades that is online is the one that I posted on Dales site many years ago. Most of my Tiffany style shades are original designs & are covered by copyright but this doesn't seem to mean anything to many so called glass artists & hobbyists.
I've had my designs ripped off one too many times to post any photos online & while I could go to court to protect them I've found that going that route is too expensive to be worthwhile so I try to avoid the whole issue by not posting any photos.
Years & years ago while I was still doing fine arts & craft shows I advertised in Better Homes & Gardens gift catalog & guess what, at the next couple of shows that I attended I found more than a couple of "Artists" were selling things that were a direct copy of my designs.
I've always been more than happy to share my knowlege which is one of the reasons that I come here & go to the Warner site, general questions I don't bother with but if someone has a specific question that I can help with I'm willing to share my experience.
Sorry Boris, but the only example of any of my shades that is online is the one that I posted on Dales site many years ago. Most of my Tiffany style shades are original designs & are covered by copyright but this doesn't seem to mean anything to many so called glass artists & hobbyists.
I've had my designs ripped off one too many times to post any photos online & while I could go to court to protect them I've found that going that route is too expensive to be worthwhile so I try to avoid the whole issue by not posting any photos.
Years & years ago while I was still doing fine arts & craft shows I advertised in Better Homes & Gardens gift catalog & guess what, at the next couple of shows that I attended I found more than a couple of "Artists" were selling things that were a direct copy of my designs.
Sorry to hear that. I wouldn't think that would be a problem with "Tiffany Style" shades, since I can't imagine and "original" designes being left to draw, since hundreds of companies made them from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s., from Wilkinson, Duffner, Art Glass Co, and many more, in all shapes, sizes, and patterns. I have made a few, but could never get into liking it. Anyway, you said "Most" where originals, so ,aybe you can post a picture of one or two thats not original, so I can see some of your work. Just curious to see what kind of Tiffany style shades go for those kind of prices. I do the bent or slumped panel lamps, from the 1930s back, electric and oil, and range in prices from the cheaper ones, at 450 to 650, to the better ones , that sell in the 800 to 1200 dollar range. Have sold them for more, but they had to be real fancy and made by a "Name" manufacturer.
Where did you buy your bases or fixtures? What kind of wheels and rings did you use?
I only use Odyssey hardware for my Tiffany style shades, this includes the wheel, ring, caps & rims. There was a time when I used other brands of hardware but I was never happy with using spiders & other brands of caps.
As for bases I've used every brand from Odyssey to Lamp Base Specialties, what I use depends on what the customer wants to spend.
At one time I had a bunch of bases from American something or other, these were solid brass bases that were almost as good as Odyssey bases. I still have some bases that were made in China, solid bronze & damned good copies of Odyssey bases but less than half the price, it's too bad that the guy who was importing them went out of business.
I also had some bases custom cast by a family member who runs a foundry out on LI, they make all those reproduction street lamps that are used in the historical districts of most cities. Even though I was given a family member discount they proved to be rather expensive, the main problem was the limited production run that I & a couple of friends could use.
As for coming up with original designs for Tiffany style shades I find it easy because it all depends on how you lay out the flowers that one uses in the designs even when using flowers that have been used in the past. But I've also use flowers that as far as I know nobody has ever used. If you ever come across a shade that contains Cyclamen or Christmas cactus flowers it's more than likely it's one of mine. I've done a couple of lamps that have morning glory flowers along with some Humming birds.
The list of flowers that haven't been used are endless, we've all seen lamps made using waterlilies but in truth they've all been the same species when there are dozens of different species of waterlilies.
I only use Odyssey hardware for my Tiffany style shades, this includes the wheel, ring, caps & rims. There was a time when I used other brands of hardware but I was never happy with using spiders & other brands of caps.
As for bases I've used every brand from Odyssey to Lamp Base Specialties, what I use depends on what the customer wants to spend.
At one time I had a bunch of bases from American something or other, these were solid brass bases that were almost as good as Odyssey bases. I still have some bases that were made in China, solid bronze & damned good copies of Odyssey bases but less than half the price, it's too bad that the guy who was importing them went out of business.
I also had some bases custom cast by a family member who runs a foundry out on LI, they make all those reproduction street lamps that are used in the historical districts of most cities. Even though I was given a family member discount they proved to be rather expensive, the main problem was the limited production run that I & a couple of friends could use.
As for coming up with original designs for Tiffany style shades I find it easy because it all depends on how you lay out the flowers that one uses in the designs even when using flowers that have been used in the past. But I've also use flowers that as far as I know nobody has ever used. If you ever come across a shade that contains Cyclamen or Christmas cactus flowers it's more than likely it's one of mine. I've done a couple of lamps that have morning glory flowers along with some Humming birds.
The list of flowers that haven't been used are endless, we've all seen lamps made using waterlilies but in truth they've all been the same species when there are dozens of different species of waterlilies.
Interesting. I have used some of Odyssey hardware, but its so expensive to buy. I strted collecting old original hardware, piece by piece years ago, and now have a ton of it, so use mostly original stuff, and make a lot of my own parts, casted and machine turned.
Good point on selecting unused or little used flowers and greenery, to come up with your own patterns. I see how using those patterns could come up with some pretty interesting designs. Thanks for posting this.
I do lamp repairs. I haven't actually made a lamp in years. The latest lamp "repair"came about when a man brought a nasty old water fountain into the shop that he was going to throw away. There was a lot of brass and copper in it, so I told him to leave it with me. I intended to take it to the recycling center. Before I made it there, a man came in and said he loved it. He asked if he could borrow it and take it to someone he knew for him to look at. I was glad to have him haul it off. A few days later, he brought the part with glass back and asked if I could slump enough glass panels to replace the broken ones. He said that his friend is going to convert the fountain into a ceiling light fixture. So I started slumping and trying to put it back together. It is very dirty with a lot of calcium build up from being used as a fountain. It had that tiny brass came around the glass – you know the stuff that we can't find any more? It was not going on the new slumped glass well and I finally decided to switch it all out to new brass flexible edging. So now I have some of that narrow brass, but it is so dirty that I don't know if I will ever try to clean it and use it. That's the latest adventure in lamp repair.
I've actually gone in the opposite direction. Years ago I used to do a lot of repair work but made few lamps myself. Now I farm out all repairs to a buddy of mine & have done so for about 10 years.
"I wouldn't think that would be a problem with "Tiffany Style" shades,
since I can't imagine and "original" designes being left to draw"
What about all the windows designed and implemented for the last one hundred years? Can there be anything original ever done again?
In my opinion, I think a window may be easier to create as an "original" than a lamp shade. You have "rogue" elements introduced, such as jewels, flashed dlass , and paintings to work with, which would give one a lot more latitude to be "creative." My opinion of course.
I do lamp repairs. I haven't actually made a lamp in years. The latest lamp "repair"came about when a man brought a nasty old water fountain into the shop that he was going to throw away. There was a lot of brass and copper in it, so I told him to leave it with me. I intended to take it to the recycling center. Before I made it there, a man came in and said he loved it. He asked if he could borrow it and take it to someone he knew for him to look at. I was glad to have him haul it off. A few days later, he brought the part with glass back and asked if I could slump enough glass panels to replace the broken ones. He said that his friend is going to convert the fountain into a ceiling light fixture. So I started slumping and trying to put it back together. It is very dirty with a lot of calcium build up from being used as a fountain. It had that tiny brass came around the glass – you know the stuff that we can't find any more? It was not going on the new slumped glass well and I finally decided to switch it all out to new brass flexible edging. So now I have some of that narrow brass, but it is so dirty that I don't know if I will ever try to clean it and use it. That's the latest adventure in lamp repair.
Rebecca
Thats not "Dirt" now. Thats "Patina" or "original finish"
I did 15 panels in the last week before Turkey day, and sent the completed shades home. Also squeezed in a couple of metal repairs, and cut a half inch off the rim of a cut leaded crystal bowl, that was chipped all around the edges. Have three lamps that need to be out by Christmas,and then a bunch of windows and more lamps to do. No new work came in this week, thank goodness.
"I wouldn't think that would be a problem with "Tiffany Style" shades,
since I can't imagine and "original" designes being left to draw"
What about all the windows designed and implemented for the last one hundred years? Can there be anything original ever done again?
In my opinion, I think a window may be easier to create as an "original" than a lamp shade. You have "rogue" elements introduced, such as jewels, flashed dlass , and paintings to work with, which would give one a lot more latitude to be "creative." My opinion of course.
I think the perspective of which is easier to create depends upon where you are in the stained glass chain and how you view windows and shades. I begin the window idea with a drawing, sketch or watercolor as I do a shade. At this stage of the game surface (curvature) has no meaning and is overlooked. When the above idea is moved to paper (Yes, GlassEye is too limited) the surface is certainly an entity to include. At this point I would separate the window idea from the mosaic idea from the shade idea. The window and shade would be drawn as a facsimile to be presented to the client and/or full size to work as the original cartoon for which copies are to be created showing the ideas brought forth. On the other side, the form to be used would have a pattern sheet applied either by using paper or a formed skin and the original drawing (same step as the cartoon on flat things) would be developed and a second pattern or skin would be used to create the copies of the cartoon. If needed by the client, a sectional of the shade would be done with full or partial coloring on paper (aka watercolors or equivalent).
As you can see the process for creating a window, mosaic and shade are very similar. Whether they are creative and also original is up to the ability of the 'artist'. As you can see the outcomes are not to compete with craft show panels/windows and shades.
In my opinion, I think a window may be easier to create as an "original" than a lamp shade. You have "rogue" elements introduced, such as jewels, flashed dlass , and paintings to work with, which would give one a lot more latitude to be "creative." My opinion of course.
I think the perspective of which is easier to create depends upon where you are in the stained glass chain and how you view windows and shades. I begin the window idea with a drawing, sketch or watercolor as I do a shade. At this stage of the game surface (curvature) has no meaning and is overlooked. When the above idea is moved to paper (Yes, GlassEye is too limited) the surface is certainly an entity to include. At this point I would separate the window idea from the mosaic idea from the shade idea. The window and shade would be drawn as a facsimile to be presented to the client and/or full size to work as the original cartoon for which copies are to be created showing the ideas brought forth. On the other side, the form to be used would have a pattern sheet applied either by using paper or a formed skin and the original drawing (same step as the cartoon on flat things) would be developed and a second pattern or skin would be used to create the copies of the cartoon. If needed by the client, a sectional of the shade would be done with full or partial coloring on paper (aka watercolors or equivalent).
As you can see the process for creating a window, mosaic and shade are very similar. Whether they are creative and also original is up to the ability of the 'artist'. As you can see the outcomes are not to compete with craft show panels/windows and shades.
I hope this makes sense.
For the last several years most of my designs have been done on a computer using a graphic pad to draw on, I usually place a piece of vellum over the pads' surface & use a regular pencil to sketch the design. I then remove the vellum & refine the design in my graphic program.
Sometimes I enter the colors using my library of glass color samples but most of the time I just print the design & use water color pencils to color it. Frankly I prefer using the pencils over using regular water colors since they give me better control, my personal preference.
When I use the glass samples to color my design it's because the customer wants to have some input into the design & the glass that will be used so I just download the design to my laptop & use it in my presentation to the client. This way as they want color, glass types changed it's easy to do right there in front of them. This saves trips & time & sometimes is the closing reason for getting the commission.
As for doing original designs the possibilities are endless, even if one were to limit himself to just using flowers I don't believe that I'd run out of species to use before I go on to a better place. You are only limited by your imagination & you are certainly not limited to flowers alone. Just last year I made a Celtic design pool table lamp for an Irish customer & I for one have never seen anything like it.
Way back when, I used Turbo Cad 3D to experiment with the various shapes and angles for the designs I was creating. It all became too much work and I dropped the idea so that I could use, and work on, the actual surface. I have never been satisfied with the GlassEye samples and the method they use to display them. The colors and textures make me gag.
I too have tried the watercolor pencils and like them. They seem to make it easier to do many types of color shading that is much more work and requires more expertise. For those reading and wondering about all of the extra work done, remember that one does not do this for $300 shades.
Wayne, I would guess that I have at one time or another tried every design & CAD program on the market & found most to be too complicated/time consuming to use & I too hate Glass Eyes Glass colors. I don't want to mention just how much money that I've wasted on them.
What I am now using is a program that I had custom designed to my wants/needs, it is most like a simplified version of Auto Cad & Auto Sketch combined. The glass colors & textures are chosen from each glass manufactures samples on CDs that I have from most companies. Those brands that don't produce CDs of their glass I've taken photos of the most commonly used glass & have imported them into my design program. These are much more accurate than those found in Glass Eye which program I tried several versions of & have been disappointed by them all.
The up front time & money invested having this program written for me now saves me time & effort when doing my designs. I simply choose what shape the shade will be & tell it how many repeats that I want to use. The program then displays a 2D outline of one of the repeat sections. As I draw the design on my pad it comes up on the monitor within the outline unless I choose to go over the edge as is needed. The beauty of the program is that when I draw outside the right edge the program automatically indents the left edge to match.
Wayne, as you know this is one of the more complicated & time consuming parts of doing a lamp design, matching the right edge to the left edge. My program does it for me instantly & very, very accurately.
After all the lines are drawn I then pick & choose what glass I'll use for each piece. After I'm pleased with the color selection I click on finish & the program displays a 3D model of the whole shade as well as the 2D section next to it. I then burn a CD of the finished design to take with me when I go to see the customer. After I get the Okay I go home & make any adjustments to the glass selections, tell the program what size the shade will be & hit print.
The program then knows to print 3 different copies of the 2D section, the first is a black & white copy showing the outline of each glass piece, the second is also a black & white copy with each glass number printed on the pieces & the third is a full color rendition of it.
It sounds complicated but it's not, it only takes me a few hours to do a design from start to finish, what was complicated was getting the program written. It took my programmer 8 months to write the code & while he didn't work on it 8 hours a day & some of the time was wasted on his having to add & adjust some of the programing to suit my tastes, it was worth the money that I spent to have it done.
I own the program & while I could sell copies of it I have no intention of doing so while I'm still doing glass. My former assistant wants to buy a copy & so does my buddy/former partner. I also have one of my glass suppliers who is bugging me to go in partnership with him to publish the program, this isn't happening for now.
It's been at least 15-20 years sunce I have done a "Tiffany" style lamp shade around here. The cheapies at the Home Depot and Walmart cut that business off totally. We used to do a lot of panel shadec for the One Of A Kind show in Toronto every year. We'd usually sell a dozen or so a year (10 day show). I think that show is on right now – usually last of Nov and first of Dec.
They would sell for $150 to 300 and we could make them on spec. Most were made in less than a day. But Tiffany lamps were too time consuming to make on spec. The only people who were ordering when I made my last one, were people who had lots of money and wanted different patterns or just different colours than the Chinese and Mexicans were making.
I remember the last one well. It wasn't a terribly attractive home made design using Worden mold and bent fruit. I made it for a lady in Texas. I don't remember what I charged her, but it wasn't cheap. It was the first deal I ever negotiated via the computer.What a miracle – to be able to submit a design, edit it to the customers satiffaction and get a price – and a credit card number to put through 35% deposit,I held my breath for a week, while it was in the hands of a courrier on it's way to Dallas.
……………. there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worthwhile doing as simply messing about in boats.
Graham, I once did a lamp via the internet for a customer in Col. we exchanged emails for serveral weeks before he Fedexed me a check for the deposit. He insisted on flying to New York to pay the balance & take delivery of the lamp. He then bought an extra ticket so that the shade rode home with him in the next seat.
I have to wonder it he would be able to do that today?
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