Rare 18th Century Lamp Screen - Walnut & Curly maple

[lou sansone]

good afternoon WWs

this is a nice little project that is suitable for youngsters and even not so young folks. I ran across it in nutting's book while looking for "fire place screens". It is a rare 18th century lamp screen. What you see in the photos is pretty much an exact copy as best as I can do. Fire place screens were not what you now think of screens to keep sparks in the fire place. They were to screen or shield ladies in the room from the direct light of the fire place. This lamp screen is somewhat similar, but even more intriguing. When trying to read by candle light, one gets the light on the book, but also right in the eyes. This little guy works like a charm. It screens your eyes, but allows the light to easily illuminate the book. The curly maple part is a figurative rendition of a maple leaf. The base is in three pieces and is black walnut. It is a nice fun project to build when you don't have a lot of time and want something to fool with.

Lou

[Kristian Wild]

Nice Lou, thanks for sharing that.

[Richard Wolf]

Very nice Lou, as always, well done.

Richard

[Dan Oliphant]

I like it even though it is not very functional these days, would make a great conversation piece.

[Belinda Barfield]

They were to screen or shield ladies in the room from the direct light of the fire place. This lamp screen is somewhat similar, but even more intriguing. When trying to read by candle light, one gets the light on the book, but also right in the eyes.
Lou

The ladies out here thank you. Most "makeup" of the period was either beeswax, or lard based - subject to melting and running if exposed to heat. Thanks to your efforts our "faces" won't slide off while enjoying an evening of reading by the fire. ;)

[Jim Becker]

Interesting piece, Lou! And it looks right at home with that very authentic and working fireplace in the background, too!

[lou sansone]

The ladies out here thank you. Most "makeup" of the period was either beeswax, or lard based - subject to melting and running if exposed to heat. Thanks to your efforts our "faces" won't slide off while enjoying an evening of reading by the fire. ;)

hi belinda

my wife also indicated that, and in addition, the harsh light of the fire place would not enhance the woman's beauty lines.

thanks for your added information.

lou

[lou sansone]

Interesting piece, Lou! And it looks right at home with that very authentic and working fireplace in the background, too!

It is an odd piece to be sure, but I thought it was interesting enough to make. Thanks for noticing the fire place. We actually have 6 working fire places in our home. I have at times thought of building a reproduction, but the one thing you don't get with a reproduction is the period fireplaces. To be sure there are some stone masons that can almost make it look 300 years old, but not many, and it never has the feel of one that was burned continuously for at least 200 years.

Lou

[Howie French]

Lou, now that is an interesting piece, thanks for sharing.
You have a great looking house, and what I might add... a familiar
looking table in the background :-)

lard based makeup... yikes!

Howie

[Roy Wall]

Lou,,

Nice little project!
How small a blade were you able to use on the Moak:) ? Or did you use coping saw...

[Brett Baldwin]

That's a neat little piece of the past. I really like your choice of orientation for the the figure in the maple.

[lou sansone]

Brent

the orientation is pretty much exactly like the original in nutting's book. The leaf is sort of odd looking, but that is how the original looked.

Roy
this is a scroll saw project

lou

[Calvin Hobbs]

Sweet little project, Lou.

Keep them coming, Cal

[John Timberlake]

Great little project, Lou. Looks just like the picture in Nutting's book except in color and with great wood grain. Might be a nice project to take to my re-enactments.

[lou sansone]

hi john
I actually tried using it to read by and it worked great. it really kept the light from your eyes, but did not block the light from the book.

thanks for the comments
lou

[Rob Millard]

Lou,

I was pretty sure which one you had made, just from the title. I’ve liked that piece in the Nutting book since I first saw it, and your’s is just like the photo. I also like the architectural details in your house.

Have you ever made a firescreen?

Rob Millard

[lou sansone]

hi rob

nutting's photos are not the best, especially with these little pieces. But I did try to emulate it as best as I could. the leaf is just glued on to the walnut stem. I did not detect any nails holding it on in the photo, but I would think they might have.

I want to make a fire screen. My wife is a really into textiles and has offered to do the needle point on it. Right now I have just been playing around with building some smalls. I just finished up a couple of sand timers ( they are tricky to build and get right ).

I am blessed with a pretty decent c1730 house with a fair amount of original features. it has 6 stone fire places that all work. I live in a town that was considered "Appalachia" by all the folks with money. Because it was always so poor, none of the original homes were ever modernized. my house did not have running water until the mid 1970's. Because of that, many of the town's really old homes are pretty original, while all the other richer towns around that had money over the years are now paying for high price restorations to bring their fancy homes back to the where my little poor town has always been. Sort of ironic.

Lou