3 Decorating Patterns for Stained Glass Lamp Shades

Stained glass lamp shades have a long history and are found in many homes as part of the décor. It is an expensive craft in terms of the making as well as in the purchasing of the material, but it is very rewarding. There are many patterns available to create one of these craft or art works. One of the most decorative ones is the Tiffany lamp shade. Creating the pattern for your lamp shade is easy in that you only need to have only one pattern per panel, but it can also flow over the panels.          

Pattern 1: Rose Bud Pattern

It would be great if you are able to draw rose buds. You could, however, photograph them and then trace them. Once you have traced them, add the color you need to see what your design would look like. Once that is done, enlarge the pattern to the size you want. It is also important to choose the colors of the glass in such a way to best render your design. To make it even more interesting,  use different colored rose buds, one slightly more open than the next, with the stems wrapping around the lamp shade. Use the leaves at the bottom edge or the rose buds as an alternative. A Tiffany style lamp shade would work well with this pattern. It might also be easier as you would use a mould for this. 

Pattern 2: Paisley Pattern

You need reasonable experience in the cutting of the glass for this pattern. The curves can crack through your pattern and the points can break off if you are not extra careful. Cut the curves as a whole piece, because a break in the glass will reduce the beauty of its effect. It is a really interesting pattern as you can use a variety of colors of glass. One “paisley” per panel should create an interesting pattern. The “paisley” can alternate with tail-side up and down on every alternate panel. The “paisley” can be created with translucent glass, surrounded with a clearer (or cathedral) glass. Or, it could be reversed (with the paisley in clear glass and the surrounding area in translucent glass.

 Pattern 3: Venda Patterns

The geometric patterns of the Venda people in South Africa, are very colorful. A great idea would be to interpret these patterns in a stained glass lamp shade. The straight lines are easy to create, but be careful that the straight lines do not weaken your lamp shade. To prevent this, render your shapes in smaller pieces, to strengthen the seams.  The attraction of Venda geometric patterns is that it consist of primary colors, with white as the background. In its translation to a stained glass lamp shade, there are a number of yellows, blues, reds and white glass to use. The interesting part here is that you do not have to render these patterns in the exact colors. Introducing a “pearlized” color as the background will give an interesting effect.