I purchased an arts and crafts style mica shade at an antique show. The shade has 6 mica panels, each of which is incredibly decorated with arts and crafts motifs.

The shade has a few issues that I'm hoping to get some advice on the best way to tackle them.

1) The shade has a dark amber color. However, in a few places the amber color is chipped away exposing the silvery color of the mica. Is the amber color from shellac that has darkened over time? What is the best way to re-color the areas of exposed silver mica so the color will match the rest of the lamp?

2) The edges of each panel are bound with what looks like thin leather lacing. This lacing is broken in a few places and I'd like to replace it. Can anyone recommend a source for leather lacing of the type that was used back in the arts and crafts period?

3) The shade is quite dirty. Given the mica and leather lacing, what would be the best way to clean the panels?

Thanks in advance for the help

Regards

Jay

Jay,

Can you post images of the lamp and shade? It might help us in identifying the lacing and we also like to look at pictures.

Best,

Thanks for the quick reply Fred. I'll be able to take some pictures of the shade this evening and post them.

Thanks again

Jay

Here are 2 pictures of the panels on the shade. Essentially there are 2 designs that alternate around the shade. These pictures show both the loss of the dark color and the missing webbing. If needed. If people need more detail, I can take closeups. It seems I'll need to post a second reply to post the 2nd picture.

Here is the 2nd panel from the lampshade

I have some ideas, but let me preface them by saying if it were my piece, I'd simply leave it be since the "damage" is minimal and lends a worn, antique look. You can color mica with a variety of things. I've used RIT dye before, and the nice thing is that if you don't get the look you want, you can just wipe it clean with a damp cloth. You could even use oil paint, but if you don't paint, you may not have an eye for applying it. Leather lace is available at most craft stores--Tandy Leather has lots of it. To antique it, you could probably take a heat gun to it then maybe use steel wool to shine it up a bit. There are many different methods, but ask yourself, do the flaws detract that much when the lamp is lit?

I agree with Circa, it looks cool the way it is in my opinion, I'd leave it alone and start looking for the lamp base to go with it.

Dano

Thanks for the input. You are probably right about not playing with it. The engineer in me likes to try and make things perfect but the old principle of "the enemy of good is better" is always wise to follow.

I plan on building my own base. I do both woodworking and some work in copper. I'm planning on basing the base design on one I saw on a stickley lamp

Thanks all for the input and protecting me from myself :-)

I have never had to attempt mica restoration, but found colored paste wax to be useful to cover up nicks on furniture. Might find it works with these blemishes. Also, shoe polish (paste wax) I've used in restorations. Both of these are generally reversible.

dont mess with it you'll make it worse.
Its great as is antiques dont need to be mint, if they were why not just buy new stuff. I've been looking for a shade like that one for a while enjoy it

What a fantastic lamp shade! I've recently been interested in obtaining a Stickley replica wicker shade, but this shade is very intriguing! Is it simply mica laced to a wire frame?

What do you suppose the "leading" is made from? (It seems to be trying to make an imitation stained glass design).

I'm not totally positive, but replicating this shade should be a cinch!