Glass lamp shades are a great addition to the decor of a home. To keep your lamp shade looking new, you will have to take preventative steps as well as restorative steps over the life-time of the shade. For example, glass lamp shades get dusty or dirty with oil from finger prints. When mishandled, small chips or flakes can come off the glass, some of which is repairable by an expert restorer or even by the owner him or herself. Finally, serious trauma to the shade can cause it to shatter completely. The remedy for this in some cases is to repair the shade, and in other cases a new one must be cast.
Simple cleansing procedures include regular dusting as part of normal house-hold cleaning. To get rid of smudges, a glass cleaner such as Windex and a soft cloth will suffice, although there are special blend formulas that act as cleansing solutions. The important thing to watch out for when doing light cleaning is that the cleaning solvent should be non-reactive with the non-glass parts of the lamp shade, such as the trim beads, metal foil, solder or other parts.
Sometimes a glass lamp shade has crevices or nooks which are not easy to reach. A fine, soft brush can be used to reach these areas. If possible, disassemble the lamp by removing it from the fixture to get at the hard-to-reach areas. When you are done cleaning use another absorbent cloth to remove all the moisture.
If the glass lamp shade is chipped, there are two ways to fix it, one being more aesthetic than the other. The first way entails finding the chipped piece and bonding it back to the original location with special cement. This may be best done with the help of an expert because poor handling can grind away the seal between the chip and the broken surface, and also the choice of cement is crucial to ensure a good seal. The second way is to smooth the chipped area with sand paper, but this merely makes the glass safe to handle and does not really replace the missing material.
More extensive damage to the shade, for example shattering into several pieces, will need the help of an expert. An expert restorer can sometimes put a broken glass lamp shade back together with glue and make the cracks invisible. But this is not always possible.
The only sure-fire way to remove all traces of damage is to get a new shade entirely. A new shade can be obtained from the original manufacturer if they stock it still, and if not, one must ask for the help of a glasswork craftsman who will try to reproduce the original by firing, blowing and shaping a new shade. There are many glasswork artists who continue the tradition of glassware and would be happy to work for a fee.
The writings provided for glass table lamps will be informative to many. Additional topics and articles on hurricane style lamp shades can be perused at the site.
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