Tiffany lamp repair
Tiffany lamp repair implies the repairs are performed on a lamp created by Tiffany Studio’s. Unfortunately over the years the context of the word Tiffany has been exaggerated to include all lamps made of stained glass or slag glass. From the definition provided by Wikipedia. A Tiffany lamp is a type of lamp with a glass shade made with glass designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his design studio. The most famous was the copper foil lamp technique he perfected.
Tiffany lamps are considered part of the Art Nouveau movement. Due to Tiffany’s dominant influence on the copper foil technique, the term ‘Tiffany lamp shade’ or ‘Tiffany style lamp’ has been often used to refer to stained glass lamps, even those not made by Louis Comfort Tiffany’s company. Over the years I have grown to accept the term Tiffany lamp repair to include all lamps made with stained glass rather than disseminate the other 50 lamp studio’s that made lamps using the copper foil method of construction. Some which I would ague were much better than Tiffany. Below and on other pages. I will entertain you with some of my Tiffany lamp repairs.
Bob and Janet's copper foil lamp restoration---------(Before)
Attached please find pictures of our damaged Tiffany style stained glass lamp shade. We recently moved from Florida to Georgia and the movers damaged the shade in the move. It was dropped on one side and is dented in a little and there are about 11 places that the lamp needs to be repaired, broken glass and damaged to lead frame. The shade is about 18 inches in diameter. We found you online and you look like the person who can repair this. This shade, we believe, was made in the 20s or 30s and is a family heirloom, it belonged to my Mother and Father who are now both deceased. Can you let us know if this is something that you can repair and the approximate amount to fix it. We are willing to ship it to you per your instructions on your website.
Bob and Janet's copper foil lamp restoration --------- (During and After)
This Tiffany style lamp (copper foil construction) is an original period lamp. Based on the hand cut foil, glass used and glass cutting used. The lamp dates from the 1900’s. Many lighting companies at the time produced similar floral and decorative skirt designs. From the before pictures you can see the extent of the damage. Approximately 27 pieces (not 11) needed to be removed and three were missing. In addition to the 30 new pieces of glass there were several existing glass pieces that required new foil to join with the new glass. The background #11DGCP caramel was the bulk of the damage. A few pink #12LLGCP and white #1LLGCP. Looking at the original damaged pictures I knew the lamp would be on the bench for more than 4 days of labor. The first few pictures below show how I send client options for picking replacement glass. View some of the work in progress prior to cleaning and putting a black patina on the new work.
Another Tiffany style but with bent glass
This picture represents and is known as a Tiffany lamp repair. Basically the repair of a construction technique from the late 1800’s where all the glass pieces were cut and wrapped with copper foil. They were then soldered in place and built using a wooden mold. Performing a Tiffany lamp repair technique would be to reverse the construction process.
Remove the broken piece of glass. Then removing the layer of wrapped copper foil that held each glass piece in place. This is repeated for all of the cracked glass pieces seen in the picture below.
While I’m not 100% sure I would attribute this lamp to the Bailey and Son’s lamp company. A lot of Bailey lamps resembled this exact use of bent white frosted glass.
After installing the glass and exterior soldering. I then need to flux and solder the interior (above). After all the new soldering is completed I’ll clean and impart a black patina to the solder to blend in with the original 100 year old work.
Tiffany lamp repair cost ?????
- Boxing and transportation.
- Labor and materials.
- Typical Tiffany lamp repairs only have flat glass. This lamp had all bent glass pieces. Six which needed to be bent.
- Displaying this shade required adding a new 1 1/4 metal edge and 3 new hangers for structural support.
- When repairing copper foil work the labor to remove broken glass is often not considered by clients. In this case the replacements are internal pieces which are harder to repair than say border pieces.
- This Tiffany style repair also required treating the glass after it was bent to remove the shine.
- Every project is unique and I’m unable to offer a ball park when asked to express a repair cost. Often many hours of work are invested and neglected to mention just to save a lamp.
Send your slag glass lamp panel repair pictures to: Len.Daley@yahoo.com
Questions please call me at 401-314-6005 (12-6ESTime) non Text#
I can best help you after you email pictures
To complete your quote for restoration if you include the following.
1. Pictures of both the inside and outside of the lamp.
2. The dimensions Length x Height.
3. The number of broken pieces.
4. Metal issues or glass issues I may not see in the pictures.