The Making of a Tiffany Shade

The story of Louis Comfort Tiffany and his eponymous lamps is a familiar one, but not everyone knows the story behind each individual Tiffany desk lamp. The copper foil method used to make a stained glass Tiffany lampshade is virtually unchanged since the first Tiffany desk lamps were created in 1879. It's an intricate, detailed, and painstaking process. Here's how it happens.

How Tiffany Lamps Are Made
The bases of Tiffany desk lamps are usually made from zinc and finished with antique brass or pewter. But it's their multi-colored stained glass lampshades that make Tiffany lamps so unique. Each shade must be cut, foiled, and soldered by hand to achieve that unmistakable look.

The process begins with a mold or pattern in which each intended glass piece is assigned a color and number. The pattern is made up of numerous individual pieces. To get the required glass shape, each pattern piece is laid on a sheet of glass and a line is drawn around it. Glass cutting and grinding tools are then used to remove each piece and shape it.

Once all shaped glass pieces have been cleaned, they are placed into a pattern through the application of copper foil around their edges. The resulting joints are then soldered to create a strong and intricate metal web that holds the Tiffany desk lamp shade together. It's a slow and careful process in which solder is used to cover the copper foil and fill gaps between the glass pieces.

When the soldering is complete, the Tiffany desk lamp is cleaned and treated with a chemical patina. This finishing process brings out the natural luster of the glass, and gives a uniform color to the solder.

The combination of this handcrafted construction with beautiful stained glass has made Tiffany the world's leading name in desk lamps.