Updated May 8, 2019.
Do you like Tiffany glass? A major collection of Tiffany had been collected by one man and housed in a specially-built museum in Japan. With the earthquake and tsunmai a few years ago, he decided this wasn’t the best place for such and extensive collection, so he decided to auction it off.
The auctioneer was in Alameda CA not far from me. On Saturday morning my son and I went to see the preview. It was amazing — stuff Louis Comfort Tiffany owned, plates, windows, lamps, vases, desk sets, and tons of other stuff.
The auction is over but you can still enjoy the catalog as a PDF (it has every piece pictured), see highlights on-line, or even buy a printed version ($45 shipped) if you call.
In the highlights click on a thumbnail to see a larger picture.
Lamps were a big part of the auction and each had it’s own lovely blown glass finial. If you want to learn more about Tiffany lamps, check out this Wikipedia article. Wikipedia also has an article about Louis Comfort Tiffany himself. It has lots of links as well as pictures of his windows. The Morse Museum also has a biography along with links to pictures of parts of their collection.
I’m very lucky that I have been able to see some Tiffany windows as well. My church in Annapolis when I was in college had a lovely Tiffany window of St. Ann teaching the Virgin. I would always sit where I could see it. It’s the window on this page. Close to home these days, the church on Mare island, St. Peter’s, has the largest collection of Tiffany windows in the West. You can learn about them here.
To bring this all back to needlepoint, I developed my clumping technique using overdyed threads, pictured above, to mimic in stitching Tiffany’s glass techniques. It’s easy to do and you can learn how in this post.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
Debbie from Northern CA says
Those are some pretty amazing things!
Donna Braham says
I just want you to know how much I enjoy all of your messages. I’ve learned a great deal about needlepoint (my passion) through your emails. As a former Vallejo girl myself, I’m proud to say that I’ve probably learned more about techniques, threads, etc., from your posts than from anyone else. I’m pretty self-taught, so your posts inspire me. I just wanted you to know that you truly do have a profound impact on your readers. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!?
Janet M Perry says
Thanks so much. Happy Mother’s Day to you as well!
Keep stitching,
Janet