Tiffany

The technique developed by Tiffany (*) to make lamps, stained-glass windows (vitraux) and other decorative items and ornaments using varieties of colors and textures of glass, combines light with color to obtain unique and beautiful pieces. Its realization is a creative process where sometimes the design can be much more exciting than the making of the object itself.

(*) 1848-1933 Louis Comfort Tiffany

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This section includes some works developed and made in our private workshop to show an artwork with a technique that is available to everyone.

Its realization only requires a small space, a few tools, glasses of different types and colors and a bit of imagination.

It is a very entertaining, rewarding and useful love.

The mixture of different types of glass can be very appealing, and, what is most interesting, it is possible to experiment with varied compositions, shapes and colors.

If you do not want to complicate your life using molds which are expensive and sometimes hard to find, you can resort to the simple geometric shapes of flat faces and facets to obtain very interesting results.


The work for implementation can be as complicated as you want ...	... or as simple as one would like.

For lamps with semi-spherical or other non-flat shapes it will be convenient to work using patterned fiberglass molds or paper patterns, which can be purchased in specialized stores or constructed by oneself.

Let your imagination run wild.

Here we were entertained to make a lamp inspired in the impossible triangle of Penrose...

...and a table clock that usually works perfectly.

From Plato to Archimedes or how to make a soccer ball.

Polyhedra are flat sided geometric figures and finite volume. Of the different families
polyhedra, known as the Platonic (so called because it was Plato who first studied them) are 5 figures in which all faces are regular polygons necessarily equal.

The most complex of them, having the largest number of faces (20), is the icosahedron made up of 20 equilateral triangles.

Of the Platonic solids, the icosahedron is the figure closest to a sphere, occupying 60% of the volume of a sphere of the same diameter.

Icosahedron

Effect of truncating the icosahedron

Truncated icosahedron

By intersecting or cutting the vertices of an icosahedron (as depicted above) it is possible to obtain the shape of a truncated icosahedron, with 32 faces consisting of 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons.

This form more closely resembles a sphere occupying approximately 86% of its volume with an equivalent diameter.

The truncated icosahedron is an Archimedean solid, a group of convex polyhedra whose faces are regular polygons of two or more types. Most of them are obtained by truncating the Platonic solids.

The current shape of a soccer ball is not arbitrary. It was designed by Richard Buckminster, an american architect inventor of the geodesic spheres. The current design corresponds to a truncated icosahedron that, although made of flat surfaces sewn together, when inflated adopt a perfectly spherical shape that occupies more than 95% of the volume of a sphere of equivalent diameter, enough to be used in the game.

Actually, other solids further approach the shape of a sphere. One of them is the rhombicosidodecahedron, another Archimedean solid, with 62 faces and formed by 20 triangles, 12 pentagons, 30 squares with 120 edges and 60 vertices.

If a figure is constructed with this number of faces it could conform a ball that fills over 94% of a sphere of equivalent diameter, reaching almost 99% when inflated. An almost perfect sphere.

Rombicosidodecahedron

Making these three figures by Tiffany technique (as shown above) is an excellent work to challenge our abilities. Their construction requires great precision in the size and measures of the individual polygons.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF GLASS

At present there are many types of glass. Some of the most used are the blown glass whose color range depends on the thickness of the glass, glass-plated obtained by the superposition of two different colored glass, opalescent glass one of the most suitable for use in this type of work because it has certain opacity so that only lets in light, cathedral glass showing a slight texture on one side so that the transparency is not absolute and only reveals the diffuse form of the objects.

There are other varieties such as Favrile glass (patented by Tiffany himself) obtained by mixing different colors of glass together while still hot, having colored waters in texture with interesting figures obtained in the direction of the cut shapes resembling a tree, clouds, feathers, leaves, etc. Its haze is most appropriate to be used in the lighting field.

There are still further varieties of glass suitable for Tiffany work such as those having different patterns of glass strings, irregularly shaped, thin glass wafers affixed to its surface or textured glass with marked surface waves.

In the preparation of a project it is most necessary to choose the type and color of glass to be used for as many of them show different colors, depending on whether or not illuminated.

Sometimes the change in color and appearance can be very noticeable.
In the two lamps shown below, this effect is quite evident, as the lamps are turned off (left) or on (right) ..

Prism shaped lamps in triangular base.

In any case, many lamps "look" as much when switched off...

... or when lit.

Three views of the same lamp (prismatic of triangular base) on a mounting made of a "slice" of olive tree trunk that was properly treated, polished and lacquered. The lamp can be rotated at will if you get tired of seeing the same face (rose, calla lily or pansies).

The metal housing of this lamp was rescued from a landfill site. It was a lamp, which with its paraffin oil burner and dim light, illuminated a railway station in the early last century. Dented, dirty and covered with rust, was subjected to a careful and thorough cleaning to remove dirt - including a nest of wasps - restored, painted and varnished. In our workshop we made three naïf designs for the three sides of the lamp (40 x 25 cm). The end result can be seen in the images. The lamp lights now our summer dining terrace.

Some other works and designs.



	With a little imagination any motif may be valid for making butterflies, wall lights, different types of lamps, etc.

The workshop.

The workshop has a well-lit space with some specific tools (glass cutters, cutting pliers, grinder accessories and polishing wheels, copper foil of different widths, 80 W soldering, tin, drawing tools, scissors etc.).

Always protect your eyes with goggles and manipulate glass pieces and parts with gloves.

Some recent work.

Cascading grape lamp

Development of the lamp project showing the construction of the various panels .

Here we work in the construction of a lamp, 70 cm. in diameter and 30 cm. high, with eight triangular panels and a circular skirt.

The development of this lamp offers no great difficulty except for the time spent on cutting and assembling 384 grapes (varieties Garnacha, Tempranillo, Mazuelo, Jalopo, pints, Muscat, Malvasia, etc.) in the different clusters.

Seeking the widest possible range, we preferred to use various colors for the different leaves, rather than perform them in a uniform color, although this does not conform to reality.

We chose a bright blue to fill the empty spaces which gave a realistic feel quite remarkable.

We show three views of the completed lamp: top, side and bottom.

Just glorious!

A mirror between flowers and plants.

     We made a 45 cm side square mirror bordered by a frame of leaves and flowers on 10 mm thick board.

     Once designed the pattern of the different parts, including all 4 mm. thick mirror pieces, they were edged with copper foil of 4.5 mm.

      All glass pieces, including the mirror ones, stick with special silicone on the board. With the parts attached to the welding table soldering gives no problems remaining firmly held together on the board.

Assembling and gluing the pieces of the mirror on the board.

The mirror was finally framed choosing a suitable molding.

There are many other reasons on which to express creativity in works of art that combines the magic of light and color, for example:

GLASS WINDOWS.

Haciendo una vidriera

We perform a glass window to be installed in the front door.

Arranged on a chessboard pattern, each piece is cut following the exact contour and size to match the design pattern and to fit with other pieces already cut.

One proceeds then to the edging with adhesive copper tape and solder the pieces in their correct position.

After completing the work, we proceed to a thorough and complete cleaning by removing all traces of resin and dirt.

This is done in order to apply the patina which produces a rich, black finish on the solder unions.

It only remains to finish our work by cleaning with water and a mild detergent.

The finished work.

As seen from inside the hall...

...or from the street.

To the left is another glass window to accompany on an interior door. It is made on translucent and opal glass with fruit motifs.

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