Psychedelic Crystalline Dragonfly Lampshade

This is the Psychedelic Crystalline Dragonfly Lampshade!  The idea for this lampshade came from two inspirations.  One, I wanted to revisit the iconic dragonfly cone by Tiffany.  I had made one back in the 1990s as my first stained glass project. Second, I had some very nice pieces of transluscent and clear glass I acquired secondhand and had a vision for a very crystalline type look for the shade. The shade is 378 pieces and is the 16” Odyssey system cone. There are wacky transluscent and clear colors all around, such as blues, clears, orange, yellow, red, light blue, rippled blue, green and stringer glass. This is an abstract departure from the typical colors and glasses used in the Tiffany dragonfly cones.  The stringer glass is used for the dragonfly wings in lieu of filigree. I left the wings open instead of filling in the spaces as they jut out of the shade. I wanted a very sparkly crystalline type feel for the shade, so clear bulbs are used for the lamp. The eyes are made from sets of glass marbles, with each dragonfly having a different pair of eyes. I liked the colored swirls of the marbles that give the dragonfly a look of psychedelic wackiness. I like the red edge surround, it reminded me of cherry jolly ranchers candy.  I built the lampshade between December 2015 and March 2016. Currently it rests on a 19” tree base with 3 light cluster. I have plans to build a custom base for the shade that include a terra cotta planter and artificial green grasses.

Thanks for your interest!

Vince Cianfichi

• glass
• copper foil
• solder
• marbles