'Ice' Chandeliers

1. 'Ice' Chandeliers

In glassmaking you generally build outwards from centre, taking a first gather, then a second gather and so on, until you have gathered enough glass to form the intended object. This layering, often described to be like the layers in an onion, allows the glass maker to manipulate each layer prior to any further gathering . Here we see the mica particles 'retained' under a layer of clear glass.

2. 'Ice' Chandeliers

We start with a gather from the furnace, at temperatures over 1100C. This is centred on the blowing iron and then rolled across chips of mica, a silicate mineral.

3. 'Ice' Chandeliers

Once this begins to cool and harden a separate gather is dropped over centrally, creating a sealed form. Here we see Master Glassmaker, Pete Smith of 'Top Glass' illustrating this process on our behalf.

4. 'Ice' Chandeliers

This is gathered over again straight from the furnace and moulded; the neck is then cut into the desired shape whilst the main body is heated and cooled until the end can be held with metal shears.

5. 'Ice' Chandeliers

Using large shears the hot glass is pulled out and bent to form the characteristic curved shape . When complete the 'ice Spike' is annealed , put in a separate oven or lehr, to cool down slowly to remove all internal stresses.

6. 'Ice' Chandeliers

This chandelier uses just 65 watts of power. This slide shows the difference between cool white (4000K) and warm white (2700K).

7. 'Ice' Chandeliers

In every commission we aim to provide scaled detail drawings that clearly communicate the proposed piece, which is always designed in conjunction with you, the client.

These drawings are included as part of our no obligation design service and are produced once we know your basic requirements, which include: the total drop length, the desired length between the top plate and the 'crown' of the chandelier, the finish of the top plate, and most importantly whether you require a single or full - colour output.

These design sheets not only allow our clients to visualise the design in great detail but also act as blueprints for our quotation and aids construction of the piece once signed off.

8. 'Ice' Chandeliers

It is important to note that all our chandeliers are extremely efficient and cost very little to run. An added advantage is that the systems we use utilise the latest tried and tested LED technology. We also take care to under-drive our LEDs to prolong their life expectancy, which equates to up to 15 years if only used at night. The LEDs can be replaced in the future if required. Each LED runs as part of a low voltage system, anywhere between 12 and 48 volts. All are fully assembled and tested prior to installation.

IN ALL CASES WE TRY TO 'FUTUREPROOF' OUR LIGHTING SYSTEMS: Being a LOW VOLTAGE system, we ask that the drivers, transformers and/or control systems are located remotely to the chandelier itself to allow ease of access in the future, if required. This can be up to 10 metres in distance. This means 3, 4 or 6 core wiring is required.Depending on what lighting you are specifying for the chandelier we may suggest the use of 2,3 or 6 core wiring from the power supply/ controller to the chandelier. Our single colour lighting may just require twin and earth while the 'zonal' colour-change chandeliers may require up to 8 x eight core. In full colour mode we often control and power the chandelier using Cat 5 or 6 cabling. We will , as a matter of course, always discuss and advise on all electrical requirements as we go through the project.

9. 'Ice' Chandeliers

A 21 spike version, 3m long, commissioned for a private residence. The client required dimmable 3 watt LEDs within each of the glass spikes, shown here in warm white.

10. 'Ice' Chandeliers

11. 'Ice' Chandeliers

An 18 spike version cool white 'Ice' Chandelier produced on an unusual polished stainless steel top plate that resembled a stealth bomber.

12. 'Ice' Chandeliers

We were delighted to be asked to create a 5m long 'Ice' chandelier by Netley Interiors for an important building in our nearest historical town of Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury has over 660 listed buildings. Ireland's mansion, built in 1596, now has the latest LED chandelier Circa 2016. The LED wall lights are by Dan Nore of the Components Co. who develop much of our in-house LEDs.

13. 'Ice' Chandeliers

We always design our chandeliers to fit the space required; in this case we specified a rectangular fitting which corresponded to the interior space.

This was hung from 4 steel cables to allow the light from the light- well down into the building.

Shown left is the chandelier in cool white ; shown right is the same chandelier in warm white.

14. 'Ice' Chandeliers

A full colour-change 4 zone version where each glass component is fitted with a 3 watt RGB LED. This large 72 'Ice' spike chandelier, shown here on test in the studio, was shipped to Qatar; unfortunately we have yet to receive images of it in it's final residence .

• LED lighting is set to replace most conventional forms of lighting in the near future
• They are extremely efficient to run, some able to save up to 90% on running costs
• Individual LEDs last for years and are far more reliable than conventional light sources
• There is little or no heat output
• LEDs use green technology; they have low production energy costs, are mercury free and do not have to be treated as special waste
• LEDs come in a huge variety of colours and can easily be controlled with small colour changing chips which can be coded to your specification

15. 'Ice' Chandeliers

Two similar houses in the UK with a similar layout and almost the same colour change chandelier.

16. 'Ice' Chandeliers

A simply stunning contemporary house in the wilds of Derbyshire, UK.

17. 'Ice' Chandeliers

A 33 spike version, 3.5m long, commissioned for a private residence. This too has 5 zones of colour and can also be set to white.

18. 'Ice' Chandeliers

19. 'Ice' Chandeliers

A 45 spike version, 7 m long, commissioned for a private residence. This too has 5 zones of colour and can also be set to white.

20. 'Ice' Chandeliers

This beautiful modern house in Essex commissioned two 'ice' chandeliers in warm white on two floors. In this interior we felt that warm white was the right LED colour to bring out the warmth of the wood.

21. 'Ice' Chandeliers

This 6.5 metre long 'Ice' chandelier uses 57 spikes along its length. This installation represented one of three large- scale domestic pieces that we designed specifically for this wonderful period home in the South West. Despite its modern appearance the whole house is a listed , built almost entirely from concrete and glass.

22. 'Ice' Chandeliers

23. 'Ice' Chandeliers

The glass on this chandelier has to look just as good in bright sunlight with a backdrop of the garden and river as it does with the stark contrasts of night and all the reflected images in the balustrade glass and main window.