I recently bought an assortment of lamps at an estate sale. Some of them were just regular ol’ lamps but I did get a few treasures in the lot. One being a Tiffany glass lamp that I know how to clean.
I really like this pink lampshade:
but it probably hasn’t been dusted since it was bought and I’m afraid to use water on it.
I wasn’t a big fan of the red beaded lampshades until I turned a lamp on and saw that the stitching holes made it look like it was covered with crescent moons.
edited to remove extra pic of pink lamp. I’m not sure why the red on won’t show up.
Those lampshades aren’t quite a dusty, but still need some love.
I tried vacuuming them which helped a little, but I could use some advice about gently cleaning them because they feel pretty fragile. I can’t really test from the back because they are lined.
Or I could just go to right to chemical warfare and break out the Tetrachloroethylene but it is not as easy for private citizens to get there hands on as it was back in the day.
All advice would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
Unless they’re really truly dirty, I’d stick with dusting and vacuuming. They’re very beautiful! I wouldn’t want to chance damaging the fabric, or getting water stains on them.
Do you know what they are made of, by any chance? If they are silk, getting water on them will stain them. Those are best left to a professional to clean.
You might try a very soft horsehair brush to gently dislodge any dust or dirt in the weave. Start at the top and gently brush down.
This is the reason I paid a hundred for the lot of ten.
It still needs some work, but I know how to deal with stained glass.
I am fairly sure that the pink one is silk screened silk.
I think the red ones are satin.
I know that I’m not going to find a dry cleaner without driving at least an hour to Charleston WV and I doubt chain dry cleaners have people who know what they are doing anyhow.
That’s why I was asking about other gentler methods than me taking dry cleaning fluid to them. Cause while I know how to use that stuff safely for people, I don’t know how to use it on silk that is probably as old as I am.
Thanks for the suggestion about using a horsehair brush, that will happen as soon as Amazon delivers 
Wow, that sounds like a great deal!
Can you post more photos of the rest of your haul?
Oh gosh, I’ve already given the two bedside lamps to our housekeeper, they were the same red fabric as the moon lamps but smaller. Very cute though.
A couple of the others didn’t work and a couple of them are boring (clear glass bases so we can put colored lights in if we want to) and Hubs has the floor lamp in his room.
The ones you have seen are the nice ones, the others are all meh.
No water, for sure on the fabric ones. I’d dust carefully. And leave them. They are in excellent shape.
If they are really vintage it’s ok to leave as is.
The stained glass you can clean with a damp sponge. No Windex or anything. Check and make sure the lead is solid and intact.
I would be as light handed as I could.
I’m vintage and I am clean. I don’t want dirty stuff in my home so if I can’t clean them…out they go.
But you are right, they are in wonderful shape. They just need to be clean. I am not going to tell you how the cords looked OMG, I had to use a plastic knife to scrape a half inch thick layer of dust off the plugs.
There is a thick dust layer on the bases, but those smell like brass so I can be a little rougher with them.
The stained glass is cleaning up nicely with distilled water, I didn’t want to risk metal deposits causing spots. And yeah, the lead is intact which is why I’m being so gentle with it. It’s too late for me to worry about brain damage from ingesting lead, but we do have a cat.
Canned air? Like for cleaning keyboards. But you’d need to be careful about not blowing a hole in the fabric.
Compressed air will help. You can get 2-pack of spray cans at most computer stores, and maybe Staples or Office Depot. Or amazon.