I really like the Greene & Greene aesthetic, and have been wanting to fix up my house following in the same style. I have grandiose visions of someday doing a kitchen remodel, but between work and family there is precious little time. So, baby steps then.
I’ve been looking at lighting fixtures from different Greene & Greene houses, looking for one that I like and at the same time seems achievable within my budget, skills and tools. I think the only thing that truly fits those criteria is a bare 60 watt bulb hanging from the ceiling, but I digress.
I’ve settled on a sconce that was made for the Blacker house. I’ve never been to the Blacker house, so I’m taking a small leap of faith here, but I do like the design. This particular light was made by Jeff Grainger (http://grainger-arts-and-crafts-studio.com). Jeff’s rendition is great, the proportions look right to me, the parts are rounded appropriately, but it doesn’t look like someone took a router to it.
Blacker House Sconce
Blacker House Sconce, Side View
So, how can I make one of these? I need to figure out the size of the parts, then figure out the joinery, light mounts and making stained glass. Yikes. The dimensions on Jeff’s web site say it’s 9″w x 7″d x 15″h. I imported the front view picture into Sketchup and scaled it until the width of the widest part was about 9″. Then I could use the tape measure tool to pick up approximate dimensions for the main elements.
Picking up Dimensions
The stiles seem to be about 1/2″ square by 6.5″ long. The rails are wider, my first cut was 5/8″ wide and 7/16″ deep. After I had the first version drawn in Sketchup it wasn’t quite right. I had to widen the stiles slightly (to 11/16″) and thin out the lantern top and breadboard ends. I think it’s close in this view, what do you think? The rounding on the ends of the different parts makes it tough to be absolutely sure, but I think it’s close.
Current Model
I think the depth is close too, maybe it should be a tiny bit shallower, maybe 1/8″? I’m not sure about mounting the stained glass, for now I have a 1/8″ x 1/8″ rebate cut into the back edge of the openings. I’ll play with this more and see if I can get a decent looking model, then add in joinery. There just isn’t a lot of room for joinery, the parts are all pretty small. This should be interesting.
Model Side View
McGlynn on Making 
I didn’t know that you could do what you did in sketch up. I might have to buy Lang’s sketch up DVD’s.
Lookin’ good!! I’m dying to see how you’re going to make all those curved edges. I remember standing in the Gamble house and wondering how that did all that with out a power router.
I think the rounding is a job for rasps and sanding. A router wouldn’t look right.
I think I should make an experimental mockup in pine, just to get a better sense of the size and joinery.
have you thouht about mica in stead of stained glass?
Not for this particular project, but I have a half dozen sheets of mica in the shop, left over from another project. I like the effect of the different colors in the stained glass and I want to try to get reasonably close to reproducing this as it was done originally.
Mica, or just colored art glass would both be good possibilities otherwise.