Many people who acquire a beautiful Tiffany Lamp shade may have already had a lamp base that they want to attach it to. Or, you might be in a position where you had to re-wire your genuine Tiffany Lamp, which means you had to disassemble it. Now, you need to reassemble it.
However, if you’re going to attach a tiffany lamp shade to a base (whether the base is Tiffany or not), you need to do it correctly. In this guide, we’ll break down the steps you need to take if you want to learn how to attach a Tiffany Lamp shade properly.
Keep reading to understand the do’s and don’ts of this task so that you can safely know how to put a stained glass Tiffany Lamp together.
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How to match a Shade Shape to a Lamp Base?
The way your base is designed affects the shape of your lampshade. It should have an eye on its shape, utilizing shapes and angles so as to allow the color to continue with the design theme. A barrel lamp base or drum lamp base reflects the stained glass color from a round drum shade. Rounded / cylindrical base tends to help in round shades more than square hues. Occasionally the shape is repeated on a base color as with the shade’s pattern as it is on the shade itself. Let the light shade stand for the tables.
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Deciding which lamp shade shape would match your base color
An appropriately fit for a lampshade should be complementary to the floor covering size, size, proportions, style, and colors. Designed to be appropriate in design of your bases, it has been designed to suit your style, material. Floor Lamps can be larger than lamps on tables and they can generally use a drum shade or Floor Shade for low elevation unless they lack a slight turn. Floor lamps are generally bigger – allowing them to have a higher base. For tall and narrow lamps, the shade should be flat. Depending on how special and interesting the lighting surface you are able to use it with simple shades.
Matching with your furniture
Considering how to make the room looks from an outdoor point is necessary. I’m interested to see what object the lamp is located in. Tell me the shape of them. How are proportional quantities? How do we compare percentage numbers between individuals?
Make Sure That the Lamp Base Will Fit the Tiffany Lamp Shade
This should come as no surprise, but it’s still worth noting. You can’t put a stained glass Tiffany Lamp together if the shade won’t physically fit the base and its parts. Most genuine Tiffany Lamp shades will indeed fit onto a base made by a different manufacturer. However, you need to assess the specifics, first.
An authentic Tiffany Lamp shade will have a hole at its cap. This hole is going to be 10 mm in diameter. This dimension, when compared with the dimensions of your lamp base, should tell you whether or not you’ll be able to attach the Tiffany shade to the base.
The part of a lamp base that connects to the lampshade hole is the “rod” or “harp”. Ideally, the rod or harp should also be about 10 mm in diameter, or slightly less, in order to fit a Tiffany Lamp shade on top of it. Also, note that the harp must be the right height to accommodate your Tiffany Lamp shade.
Specifically, you want a harp that is not quite as tall as your Tiffany Lamp shade’s height. Your harp should be about 1-2 inches shorter than the lampshade, in general. This will depend on which Tiffany Lamp shade you have, so you might have to replace your lamp’s harp if it’s made by a different company.
Reassemble the Rest of the Lamp
First, ensure that your lamp isn’t plugged into its power source. These directions really only apply to those who need to reassemble their whole Tiffany Lamp. Putting a Tiffany Lamp back together will be different depending on your lamp and base.
In any event, if you disassembled your lamp for rewiring or other repairs, you should first re-thread the electrical cord through the lamp’s middle piece and out of the bottom of the base.
Next, follow these steps:
- Ensure that the lamp’s middle part gets seated nice and snug onto the base by tightening it if you need to.
- If you have a genuine Tiffany Lamp base, attach the bottom fitting before attaching the bottom plate.
- Attach the base plate to the bottom of the lamp base and tighten it into place with its bolt.
- Install the harp into the saddle. The harp or “rod”, as mentioned previously, is the part of a lamp that the Tiffany Lamp shade will sit atop. The saddle is a smaller part that holds the harp in place and connects to the middle portion of the lamp, above the base.
Tiffany Shade – Attach the Tiffany Lamp Shade
Now, you are finally ready to safely attach directly your Tiffany Lamp shade to the lamp base. Place the lampshade on top of the harp, making sure that it is sturdy and balanced. Now, you still need to secure the shade with one final piece.
Conveniently enough, the name of this piece is the finial. The finial is a small lamp part that screws on top of the stained glass lampshade and secures it into place.
On regular lamps, it will just be a small, cheap piece with a screw hole inside. But for Tiffany Lamps, the finial is usually bronze like the Tiffany Lamp bases, and it should be of some kind of ornately sculpted design, such as a flower or a bird. Once you have screwed on the finial, your Tiffany Lamp glass shade is now secure.
Adjusting the vertical position of a shade
A glass shade that does not have the correct vertical placement will need to be lowered using the shade riser or adjuster on the shade’s dimensions to compensate or improve it. A larger harp allows more shade, lower down — so you can center and cover hardware for better positioning. Shade risers are small adapters that extend threaded poles from above a harpoon.
Tips for How to Put a Tiffany Lamp Together
While the process of attaching a Tiffany Lamp shade to its base is not too complicated, there are some tips to keep in mind during the process. A good lamp installation should involve the following things.
Take Measurements Beforehand
Like we mentioned before, it’s going to be all around easier to attach your Tiffany Lamp shade to your base if you measure first. This is especially true if you aren’t matching a genuine Tiffany stained glass Lamp base to a genuine Tiffany Lamp shade. Finding the right specifications for each part will help the reassembly to go more smoothly.
What size shade you need for a lamp base?
The bigger the lamp the more shade the lamp carries to achieve the desired proportion. Aim for a 2-3 inch distance between the lamps and shades. This is especially for low wattages. Compact fluorescents are a good choice for many lamp lighting as they eat cold water, but a harp will be more necessary to fit. The opening vents the heat evenly and the opening on the left extends so that airflows freely into the shade. The shade should fit in larger lamps with larger base diameter.
Shade length can protect fixture and ensure you don’t get caught off the socket unless they are placed on the opposite table lamp holder. Consider also, because the floor lamp has a larger height it can have a lampshade with fewer sides in some directions. It’s also usually bigger on tables that have recessed lamps, which will reduce space on the base.
Measuring lamp shades for table lamps
Almost any light has an under-side diameter as low as 16″. Mini light bulbs use much larger shades. Measure a lamp from its base right behind bulb sockets. The ideal height for stained glass shade lights for tables and lamps is almost 3/3 of its length.. In this manner the glass shade can have large height as it covers the height of the plug for lamp base. From your standpoint, there is no problem focusing on the lamp hardware.
Measuring lamp shades for floor lamps
The light can be installed on an opening width between 16″ and 18″ and larger. Similarly rules of design exist as outlined in table shades where shade length can protect fixture and ensure you don’t get caught off the socket unless they are placed on the opposite table lamp holder. Consider also, because the floor lamp has a larger height it can have a glass shade with fewer sides in some directions. It’s also usually bigger on tables that have recessed lamps, which will reduce space on the base.
Measuring for Candle Shaped Shade
If you are trying to pair your lamp with an existing lamp then measure your shade with straight rulers as well as taught tape measures that do not exceed one inch. Three measurements must be taken. Make all measurements of slant from outer edges of lampshade to inner ends even for rims which are vertical.
Measuring for oval and rectangular lampshades
If it is a round or rectangular shade it can take 2 extra measurements since this shade is narrower than it is front-to-back.
Sizing lampshades for a chandelier
Glass lamp Shades in chandeliers generally have smaller widths than traditional shades, typically about 4 to 7 inches across. There should be space within the light bulb to allow warmth to pass through shade, but not create danger. These mini chandelier shade is aimed specifically towards lighting fixtures. Most are designed to attach to external light bulbs as these lamps are fairly light-weight.
Choose an appropriate bulb
When you have finished your lamp repair you then it is time to get your lamp shade attached to bulb.
You will need a bulb to illuminate the colors of your glass Tiffany shade without appearing too harsh.
A 60 watt equivalent led bulb should be suitable for most lamps.
Consult a Professional
When all else fails, it might be worth it to consult a Tiffany Lamp or antique professional. Tiffany Lamp shades are antiques, most of which are about 100 years old. This means that they are too valuable to risk damaging. If you want to put the lamp together the right way, you may need some outsider help.
Be Careful
Always be careful when handling antique objects, as we may not consider the materials used back in the day to be healthy now. For example, genuine Tiffany Lamps consist of a lead base component.
Touching lead itself is not terribly harmful to humans. However, you need to be careful about
breathing in too close to this part of the lamp. You’re not likely to exhibit harmful symptoms of lead (anemia, weakness, etc.) just by handling a Tiffany Lamp for a few minutes, but you should still be cautious.
Furthermore, you should be careful and ensure that the lamp is always unplugged before you start work assembling its pieces.
If after reading this you would prefer to buy a new shade then check out my best Tiffany lamp shade review blogs.
References
https://www.tiffanylightingdirect.co.uk/pages/replacement-bases-and-shades-help
https://www.besttiffanylamps.com/how-to-clean-a-tiffany-lamp-cleaning-stained-glass/
https://makezine.com/2012/12/21/how-to-repair-a-separated-tiffany-style-lampshade/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE3_F2JmVCs
https://makely.shop/blogs/inspiration/how-to-change-a-lampshade
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