How to Color an Antique Glass Lamp

Add color to an antique glass lamp by painting pre-engraved shapes.

Tiffany lamps refer to antique glass lamps painted with a spectrum of color. The nickname stems from the famous American artist Louis Comfort Tiffany, who adorned glass windows, lamp shades, lamp bases and vases with stained glass designs, according to the Michigan State University Museum. Create your own "Tiffany" lamp by transforming your drab light source with various colors of paint. Choose either a stained glass design, your own pattern or add color to engravings already present on the shade and base.

Things You'll Need

• Antique glass lamp
• Glass paint
• Small paint brush
• Paper towel
• Pencil or non-permanent marker
• Stencils

Instructions

1. Purchase paints or glosses that can be used on glass. If you plan on covering large portions of the glass shade, purchase vitreous or transparent glass paint so that light can still shine through.

2. Print off patterns if you would like to paint a stained glass design; you can also print off stencils if you want to create your own design. Tape the patterns on the inside of the shade and trace on the outside of the shade with a pencil. If the glass is a dark color, and the pencil markings do not show up, use a washable marker for tracing. If the lamp's base is also made of glass, cut out design shapes, tape them to the neck and trace around them. If the glass already has engraved curvatures or designs, you do not have to trace any patterns.

3. Squirt each paint color you will use on a paper plate. Lay out some newspaper and place the lamp on top. Remove the shade from the lamp. If you can't, cover any part of the lamp not being painted with newspaper. Apply one color at a time, using a small paint brush. Either fill in your traced designs or paint on top of the existing indents. Allow this color to dry. Do the same for each additional color. If you mistakenly apply paint in the wrong spot, wipe it off with paper towel.

4. Follow the directions on the paint bottles. Some glass paints require a baking period in the oven so the colors can set.

References

• The Washington Post: Jazz Up a Lamp With Glass Paint
• Ata Articles: Creating Beading Designs For Glass Light Shades
• Michigan State University Museum: Michigan Stained Glass Census

Resources

• Chantal's Stained Glass: Free Stained Glass Patterns
• Artists Pick Blick Art Materials: Glass Painting and Decoration
• Stained Glass Art By Vitmar: Lamp Patterns