Creating the Lampshade
Janine Onffroy Shelley
1. Decide on a theme. This lampshade began with a hike on Ebey’s Landing on a beautiful June morning. I took several photos with my iphone.
2. Design a pattern. The shade has six sides, or three panels repeated twice. The pictures were my inspiration for the three shade panels. It is important that the design flow from one panel to the other around the shade.
3. Select glass colors and color my pattern. I use Adobe Illustrator to create a model of my shade.
4. Cut out glass pieces. The color in the shade is from pieces of stained glass. Over 600 pieces of glass were cut out for this shade. The pieces are placed on a clear glass base panel. Each panel is fired in a kiln to 1450 degrees for at least 14 hours. The panels below have been fired.
5. Complete the painting step 1. I paint the black lines using special glass enamels. I Each panel is fired in the kiln at 1300 degrees for about 7 hours
6. Complete painting steps 2-4. This involves adding shading with glass enamels. The light brown is added, then fired. The dark brown is added, then fired. The dark green is added, then fired. This requires an additional 21 hours of kiln time.
7. The lampshade is completed using the copper foil method for construction.
8. The majority of the lamp base is made of wood with a 1/4 inch steel foundation. The design is painted with acrylics and details are burned into the wood. The base is sanded and varnished to create its satin texture.
