Period Tin Sconces
What are period tin sconces? Why would anyone want to use period tin sconces? Well period tin sconces are lighting devices designed as to remind you of and recreate certain periods in history. Thus, if you intend to create your own historic corner in the house, or if you want to live surrounded by the old air of historic and heroic deeds, you can find stores or artists that create and sell period tin sconces that meet these very features.
One very famous company which produces and sells period tin sconces, is Period Lighting Fixtures, Inc.which is known to have started in 1974. This company as well as others whose object is represented by period tin sconces, have done a lot of research for early lighting designs and styles, which took them to the Smithsonian Institute, the Historic American Buildings Survey, the index of American Design in Washington DC or other national museums and historical landmarks, or preservation societies.
Most of the period tin sconces are entirely hand made, starting with the drip on the wax coated candle covers and ending with the hand-forged suspension hook that hides the wire. The fixtures are made with many of the same hand tools of the initial producers/craftsmen who were intent upon investing their skills and artistry in a productthe quality of which approached the outer limits of commercial practicality. The period tin sconces available nowadays, that are actually produced at present, are either meant for holding candles or electrified. With very few exceptions, the wires in the electrified period tin sconces can never be seen.
Usually, as the name says, period tin sconces are made of copper entirely and they are soldered. There are several different possibilities for finishes: hand rubber pewter, which creates a dull medium to dark grey plated finish, aged tin, which turns the medium to dark rusted earth tones with distressed tin highlights beneath a dull oil finish, or other fixtures get painted with hand formulated collors which then are topped by an amber paste glaze. In any case, the results, the period tin sconces, are incredibly beautiful and resembling and reminding of the old times when they were used on a regular basis.
As for the shapes and styles of period tin sconces that existerd in the past, we know they were numerous and different from one age to another.The variation in form was due to the imagination of the makers as well as to the fashionof the times. Period tin sconces were often used in pairs to satisfy the early taste for symmetry in interior design. Nowadays you can either stick to the symmetry type of arrangement used in the past or to create your own arrangement, depending on your imagination and the items that exist in the rooms that will house your period tin sconces. Generally the period tin sconces are circular with bracket arms, or they are oval or rectangular.