Making Light Bloom

Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Lamps

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

Peachtree

pub. 6.24.2025

32 pages

Ages 7 - 10

Author: Sandra Nickel

   Illustrator: Julie Paschkis

Character: Clara Driscoll

Overview:

"Drawing inspiration from her childhood gardens, Clara Driscoll created designs for Louis C. Tiffany's stained glass windows. Clara had such a flare for glass that Tiffany put her in charge of a special workroom, staffed with women—called the Tiffany Girls. But Clara wanted more. She wanted to create a three-dimensional work that would make light bloom. So she figured out how to engineer a lamp—how to shape and bend glass and light it so that her designs sprung to colorful, vivid life.

Today, we all recognize Tiffany lamps, but we almost forgot the woman who created them."

Tantalizing taste:

"To recreate the flowers, Clara searched through two tons of glass sheets stored in the baement. She found whites dappling to greens and yellows ripening to orange. With the help of the Tiffany Girls, she made each lamp burst with color, turning her love of nature into bright bouquets of glass...

Louis [Tiffany] died and so did Clara, and still, no one knew Clara had designed the lamps.

Until one day .... Clara's letters to her sisters and mother were discovered in an attic. Another bundle was found in a desk. And the readers learned the secret that had been hidden for so long.

Clara Driscoll was the creator of the garden lamps. Because of her, light bloomed - and still blooms - throughout the world."

And something more: Sandra Nickel in the Author's Note explains: "Missing home is often bittersweet. But in Clara's case, being homesick not only led her to create one of the most iconic pieces of American decorative art, it also resulted in her documenting that creation by writing hundreds of letters to her mother and sisters. Clara's letters act like a diary and tell us about her creative work and love for her home..." And it's wonderful learning that author Sandra Nickel read these letters -- incredible primary sources which add such depth to this beautifully written and illustrated true story!