I spent some time searching for a picture of an original lamp — I had to pick through a lot of copies of the lamp from official reproductions to creations by other hobbyists. I found some decent images on Flicker. My goal was to confirm that the plans I’ve drawn up were fairly close to the appearance of the original.
Bedroom at Falling Water showing two of the lamps
Close up shot of lamp
I think I’m close enough to capture the same effect as the lamp. Their is an article on Popular Woodworking on building this lamp, but it doesn’t have the wings on the back, and the shade is attached to the base with biscuits, which I don’t like in this application. Instead I’m planning on an insert that will be a slip fit into the inside of the shade.
It looks like the original is brass, and the bottom of the shade is black. I’m not going to try to re-create the brass base, but instead just have a painted wood base. If you build one of these please send me a picture, I’d love to see your version. Here are my plans, I’ll pick up the materials for the base after work and see if I can glue up the bases tonight.
(click on image to download plans)
In the meantime, I put a (probably) final coat of finish on the shades. If it looks even after it dries I’ll wax them and call it good.
The CAD drawing picture shows the small wings being proud of the large front faces. You didn’t carry that out on your lamps. I kind of like that and I’ll probably use that detail when I make mine.