Context 159 - May 2019

26 C O N T E X T 1 5 9 : M A Y 2 0 1 9 On showing these documents to several specialist lantern manufacturers, the consensus was that these were originally spun metal, and that only copper would be malleable enough to create the shape. This is a very ancient method of working metal, dating back to Egyptian times, involving pressing a spinning metal disk onto the pattern using metal levers and rollers. Working with the spinners, realistic shapes were discussed, and a final design evolved. A lantern is only as good as the quality of the lamp within it, so this needed careful considera- tion.The colour temperature of the light needed to be such that it mimicked oil or gas lights, and not be too harsh. We were conscious that a big lamp would dominate the lantern and was not acceptable to the highway engineers. After testing several lamps, a micro-fluorescent was chosen for its particularly soft light and its 20,000-hours life. One of only two lanterns to remain on the estate, neither of which was original Shaping a trial glass bowl at the Liquid Glass Centre A drawing of the proposal: the overthrow, closely following surviving original details, is set out using the golden section