Fine Craftsmanship at Greenwich Metal Finishing
It’s no secret that I really love unusual lighting fixtures and I’m always on the lookout for new inspiration. From time to time, I’ve discovered a cache of antique glass shades in some antiques store and dreamed up a design and sketched it out. To bring those dreams to reality, I call on my friends at Greenwich Metal Finishing, located in Stamford, Connecticut, where my sketches are turned into fixtures. I actually use this business frequently because owner, Anthony Cassano and his team of experts, do a fabulous job of polishing, refinishing, and repairing metal objects of all kinds. And when it comes to creating something new, no job fazes Anthony if it has to do with metal. Recently, I happened upon six beautiful hand-blown globes and I wanted to turn them into ceiling fixtures to match the hardware on some existing lights. Three of the globes have standard openings, but three are larger and needed to be custom fitted and here’s a little pictorial on how that was done.
1 Greenwich Metal Finishing is located at 300 West Main Street in Stamford, CT.
2 The showroom - Greenwich Metal Finishing services chandelier, sconce, table and floor lamps, and exterior lanterns. They also provide crystal cleaning and replacement.
3 They are re-wiring experts, often with Euro-conversions to US.
4 This steel cabinet, a work in progress, was stripped of paint, polished, and coated with baked on lacquer. Two drawers are being replaced with a drop-leaf door to house a computer.
5 Meanwhile, back in the work shop, the drop-leaf door is being manufactured to match.
6 Painted metal chairs, such as this one, can be sand blasted in their state-of-the-art blasting facility and then beautifully powder coated.
7 Greenwich Metal Finishing offers several choice finishes - silver, brass, pewter, nickel, and gold.
8 All finishes can be in hi-polish, butler, antique, or brushed.
9 You can also purchase lovely wall sconces of their design.
10 And also ceiling fixtures
11 Behind the showroom is a very busy workroom. This metal-crafter is dipping a brass replacement piece in an oxidizing solution to change its color to match.
12 He then applies paste wax, which holds and protects the color.
13 Their lighting restoration division is operated by a team of experts. Creative metal-crafters, polishers, and electrical technicians all work together to provide precise restoration.
14 The electrical technician is converting this old piece of molded cement artwork into a very unusual table lamp.
15 All sorts of canopies, back plates, and mounting plates within easy reach
16 And many sizes and shapes of harps
17 These craftsmen are repairing a newly powder coated iron drop-leaf table.
18 The spray booth is specially designed to ensure a contamination-free environment and offers the highest quality finishes and coatings.
19 This is the big oven where various finishes are baked onto metal pieces.
20 Here is my project in the works. They had to custom make three brass fitter plates for the hand-blown globes and one is being clamped onto a milling machine.
21 The fitter plate is coated with a metal dye to help see the etched on pattern. A milling bit begins to cut.
22 After a first rough-cut pass, a second finishing pass smooths out the edges of the cut.
23 Moving onto the next section
24 When the cutting is complete, the fitter plate is taken to the polishing lathe.
25 This fast-spinning buffer polishes the brass to high-polish finish.
26 The custom fitter plate fits the large opening of the hand-blown globes very nicely.
27 Two more were milled in just the same manner.
28 These are the rest of the polished-out pieces of the light fixture.
29 The pieces were assembled and wired by an electrical technician.
30 In all, six fixtures were assembled by Greenwich Metal Finishing.
31 The two sizes, side by side - I can't wait to see them hanging!
Very interesting, Martha. I was hoping to see the fixtures all together, so maybe you'll show that the next time.
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria | May 24th, 2011 at 12:16 am
Oh! I thought we would get to see the completed fixture!
You'll have to share it with us when it is done!
amy @ glass confetti
Posted by: amy | May 24th, 2011 at 8:32 am
It wonderful to see these handcrafting skills are still alive and well.
Posted by: Marsha | May 24th, 2011 at 8:53 am
Martha,
It was wonderful to be taken on tour and watch such wonderful craftsmen at work.
Posted by: Aussie gal | May 24th, 2011 at 9:28 am
Hi Martha, I've never been to such a fascinating facility as Greenwich Metal Finishing and I thank you for giving us a great tour to see some of the things they do! These photos are superb and show how they produce such great finished projects! I would love to have the steel cabinet in photo #4, the metal chair in #6, and your lamp fixtures in #30&31! You did a great job creating the design and sketching it out for them to use! Can't wait to see how you hang those fantastic lamp fixtures! Loved seeing yesterday's "Sweet" TV Show-terrific! Have to go check out The Daily Wag blog post about 'Peonies and Rain Don't Mix'! Hope you have a nice dry day today! It's dry here right now, so have my fingers crossed. Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | May 24th, 2011 at 9:52 am
Martha, very interesting, thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | May 24th, 2011 at 10:25 am
Very interesting post Martha.
Posted by: Rowaida Flayhan | May 24th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Hi Martha,
When I saw your blog today I remembered you writing or talking about some lights for the tenant cottage at Bedford that Alexis would stay in when she visited and sure enough, in your “From my home to yours” column in the June 2006 issue of Martha Stewart Living you wrote about the work of Greenwich Metal Finishing. Alexis wanted you to handle the lighting so you sketched the fixtures and they made the prototypes. I just remembered being amazed at the finished product and how it was painted in a similar color to match the rest of the décor. I have never paid that much attention to detail but I sure admire that you and Alexis do! One thing for sure, I will never look at an old light fixture and consider it a goner. I’ll only wish I lived closer to Greenwich Metal Finishing! Thanks for another informative blog and I love your ‘new’ fixtures. Trish
~
P.S. Here’s a link to a portion of the article you wrote. http://bit.ly/leHZM3
Posted by: Trish | May 24th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
I've always wanted to decorate my house (especially my living room and kitchen) and garden with metal crafts.
I've already accessorized my garden with two metal wind chimes but I want more. I like what you did with the fitter plates Martha. I think I'll have this one. I'm also thinking of getting an Asian-inspired metal craft such as the kumintang from the Philippines.
Do you have any ideas for Asian metal crafts?
Posted by: Amelia@ Home Decors | May 24th, 2011 at 11:47 pm
I enjoyed your show about Sara Foster so much and want you to know that when we lived in Montana about 12 years ago, your magazine came out with Sara Foster's recipes for a Thanksgiving meal. I made them all, cooked the turkey on the grill standing in 3 feet of snow and invited my neighbors in, for what turned out to be a fabulous Thanksgiving meal, unlike anything they had ever had before. I've passed these recipes on to our family and at least one of them, appears on their holiday tables. Her stuffing, biscuits, turkey, everything, are simply the best!
Thank you for featuring her and telling us about her new book. It was a great program!
Janet Hayes
Vancouver, WA
Posted by: Janet Hayes | May 25th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Dear Martha,
There is something I would love you to see on ebay auction Our beloved vintage antique 8 burner gas,coal,wood burning cook stove with oven from the art deco era in Sky Blue and Chrome that we have to sell because we have no room for it. It's so beautiful. I wish we could keep it. Item # 150628807444 If it has to go I'ld love for it to be to someone that really appreciates fine metal craftmenship and a one of a kind design by Universal. It can't stay in a 600 sq foot apt. Thanks for taking a look anyway. Sandra
Posted by: Sandra Lincoln | July 10th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
Martha, I love reading your blog! You always post information I can use. Though Greenwich Metal Finishing is too far away for me to visit, I loved your explanation of how you found those globes and were inspired to add them and create something new. It looks simply stunning!
Posted by: Keely Metal | October 25th, 2011 at 12:30 pm