Chandelier Light Bulbs

The following is a glossary of words and terms used when describing chandeliers and chandelier light bulbs.

Accent Lighting – Localized and directional lighting used to highlight or focus attention on a specific area of a room or outdoor space. It may be used to spotlight paintings, houseplants and other possessions, or to highlight the texture of a wall, drapery or outside landscaping. Accent lighting generally requires at least three times as much light on the focal point as the general lighting around it.

Adam style – A neoclassical style, light, airy and elegant chandelier – usually English.

Ambient Lighting – Also known as general lighting, ambient lighting provides an area with overall, non-specific illumination. Ambient lighting radiates a comfortable level of brightness, enabling one to see and walk about safely. It can be accomplished with chandeliers, ceiling or wall-mounted fixtures, recessed or track lighting or with outdoor fixtures. A basic form of lighting that replaces sunlight, ambient lighting is fundamental to lighting a home.

Architectural Lighting – This broad term generally refers to built-in fixtures, such as downlighting, valance lighting or a luminous ceiling. Some people also include functional lighting, such as track or simple fluorescent, which has an architectural appearance.

Arm – The light-bearing part of a chandelier also sometimes known as a branch.

Arm Plate – The portion where the Arm attaches to the center of the lighting piece.

Art Deco – A mainstream design style that reached its heyday in the 1920s. Typified by streamlined design shapes, geometric patterns, bold outlines and the artistic use of industrial materials, such as stainless steel, plastic and pressed glass.

Art Nouveau – A decorative art movement that emerged in the late nineteenth century. Characterized by dense asymmetrical ornamentation in sinuous forms.

Average Rated Life – The number of hours required for half of a large group of lamps to fail or burn out. The actual life of any lamp or small group of lamps will typically be different from the average rated life.

Bag – A bag of crystal drops formed by strings hanging from a circular frame and looped back into the center underneath, associated especially with early American crystal and regency style crystal chandeliers.

Ballast – Electrical component required for fluorescent (and HID) lamps. Ballasts provide enough voltage to start the lamp and then limit the current for continuing operation.

Baluster – A turned wood or moulded stem forming the axis of a chandelier, with alternating narrow and bulbous parts of varying widths.

Bead – A glass drop with a hole drilled right through.

Beveled Glass – Clear glass, often with a high lead content, with edges that are cut on an angle to add depth and glitter.

Blown Glass – Hand blown glass is created by artisans who blow air into a molten balloon of glass. The artisan’s skill determines the shape and texture of the finished piece.

Bobeche – A dish fitted just below the candle nozzle, designed to catch drips of wax. Also known as a drip pan.

Branch – Another name for the light-bearing part of a chandelier, also known as an arm.

Brass – An alloy of zinc and copper, brass forms and polishes easily. Solid brass means the fixture is made entirely of brass, rather than a brass-plated material.

Bronze – Harder than brass, bronze is used for its durability, especially in high-grade outdoor lighting.

Brushed Finish – Satin or lightly textured finish, usually on metal, produced by buffing with a fine abrasive.

Built-In Lighting – Built-in lighting generally refers to lighting equipment mounted into coves and cornices, behind valences, or integrated into furniture and bookcases.

Candelabra – Not to be confused with chandeliers, candelabras are candlesticks, usually branched, designed to stand on tables, or if large, the floor.

Candlebeam – A cross made from two wooden beams with one or more cups and pickets at each end for securing candles.

Candle nozzle – The small cup into which the end of the candle is slotted

Canopy – An inverted shallow dish at the top of a chandelier from which festoons of beads are often suspended, lending a flourish to the top of the fitting.

Cage – An arrangement where the central stem supporting arms and decorations is replaced by a metal structure leaving the center clear for candles and further embellishments.

Cased Glass – Glass consisting of a layer of clear glass fused to a layer of opal or other tinted glass. Cased glass transmits light more efficiently than opal, with more luster and better diffusion. Cased glass can be blown or molded.

Chain Pliers – Tool with jaws that open as you squeeze the handles together. Used to pry open links of chain to change the suspension height of a chandelier or other fixture.

Chrome – Chrome takes a high, lustrous finish. A softly brushed chrome finish simulates stainless steel, but without the durability and depth.

Clip – Piece that is used to clip a shade onto a light bulb.

Compact Fluorescent – A small fluorescent lamp that is often used as an alternative to incandescent lighting. The lamp life is about ten times longer than incandescent lamps and is 3 to 4 times brighter. Often referred to as CFL lamps.

Contemporary Style – Lighting derived from the industrial styling of Modernism, blending function and form. Brushed metal surfaces, the use of plastic materials, sleek, streamlined forms, and geometrically shaped glass shades and bowls predominate.

Copper – A soft, pure metal, usually used for accent detailing. It oxidizes to a distinctive green color when exposed to the air.

Corona – Another term for crown-style chandelier

Cove Lighting – Light built into a cove, a shelf or ledge at the upper part of a wall, to illuminate the ceiling. Typically fluorescent, cold cathode or low voltage strip.

Crown – A circular chandelier reminiscent of a crown, usually of gilded metal or brass, and often with upstanding decorative elements.

Crystal – Usually a fine quality glass with a lead content that gives it special qualities of clarity, resonance and softness – making it especially suitable for cutting. Also known as lead crystal.

Damp Location – UL listing for fixtures used in a moist or damp area such as a bathroom or porch.

Decorative Bulbs – Decorative bulbs are bulbs available in a variety of wattages, colors, and shapes including flame, tapered and teardrop shapes, among many others.

Diffuser – Light control device that spreads light by scattering it.

Dimmer – Control that varies the output of the light source by reducing the voltage or current to the lamp.

Direct Lighting – Lighting that casts most of its light downward. Examples of direct lighting include recessed lights, track lights, and task lights.

Drip Pan – The dish fitted just below the candle nozzle, designed to catch drips of wax. Know also as a bobeche.

Drop – A small piece of glass usually cut into one of many shapes and drilled at one end so that it can be hung from the chandelier with a brass pin. A chain drop is drilled at both ends so that a series can be hung together to form a necklace or festoon.

Dutch – Also known as Flemish, a style of brass chandelier with a bulbous baluster and arms curving down around a low hung ball.

Eclectic Design – A style of interior decorating that mixes different styles and period of lighting and furniture.

Etched Glass – Glass treated by an acid bath, producing a satiny, diffused surface or design.

Extended Life Lamp – Incandescent lamp with with a stronger filament to extend its rated average life.

Facet – Side of a prism, seen most often in crystal glass chandeliers and other wall fixtures.

Festoon – An arrangement of glass drops or beads draped and hung across or down a glass chandelier, or sometimes a piece of solid glass shaped into a swag. Also known as a garland.

Filament – The tightly coiled tungsten wire of an incandescent lamp; glows to produce light when electricity flows through it.

Fill Gas – In incandescent lamps, usually argon or krypton with trace nitrogen. In fluorescent lamps may be argon. Halogen is used in halogen incandescent lamps.

Finial – The final flourish at the very bottom of the stem. Some Venetian glass chandeliers have little finials hanging from glass rings on the arms.

Fitter – Part of a fixture that accepts a glass or plastic globe. The diameter of the fitter determines the size of the neck or opening in the globe.

Fluorescent Lamps – Lamps which operate by creating an electric arc inside a gas-filled tube. The color of the light is determined by the type of phosphor coating used in the lamp.

Footcandles – A measurement of light.

General Lighting – Also known as ambient lighting, general lighting provides an area with overall, non-specific illumination. General lighting radiates a comfortable level of brightness, enabling one to see and walk about safely. It can be accomplished with chandeliers, ceiling or wall-mounted fixtures, recessed or track lighting or with outdoor fixtures. A basic form of lighting that replaces sunlight, general lighting is fundamental to lighting a home.

Grounding – Connecting electrical components to earth for safety.

Hammered Glass – Glass seen most commonly on outdoor fixtures that has a rippled, pitted “hammered” antique look.

Hand-Blown Glass – Individually produced glass made by artisans who blow molten glass into different decorative shapes.

Heat Ratings – Like recessed downlights, surface mounted fixtures must pass heat tests to assure they do not affect combustible ceiling materials. This limits the maximum wattage in these fixtures, and sometimes necessitates the installation of high-temperature wiring. Always follow the label on the lamp; never use higher wattages or different lamps.

Hoop – A circular metal support for arms, usually on a regency-styles or other chandelier with glass pieces. Also known as a ring

Inside Frosted Lamp – A lamp with a light etching or sprayed on diffusing coating on the inside of the bulb.

Iron – A strong metal, iron imparts a natural quality to a lighting fixture. Wrought Iron is heated and hammered into shape, and can be formed into pleasingly fluid forms.

Lead Crystal – Fine quality glass having a high content of lead oxide.

LED – Light Emitting Diode.

Lumens – The amount of light that a bulb produces.

Machine Blown Glass – Glass shaped by mechanically forcing air into molten glass so that it takes the shape of a mold.

Mission Style – Along with the Arts And Crafts movement, Mission style became popular at the turn of the 20th century. The emphasis is on simplicity, straight lines, geometric shapes and handcrafted pieces. Ornamentation may be from wrought iron, brass or wood.

Moulded or Molded – The process by which a glass piece is shaped by being blown into a mold (rather than being cut).

Neoclassical Style Chandelier – Glass chandelier featuring many delicate arms, spires and strings of beads.

Opal Glass – Milky, translucent glass produced by adding ingredients to clear glass. Used for diffusing light.

Pendant Lights – Pendants can provide both general and task lighting. With shades or globes to avoid glare, they can be suspended from the ceiling over a dinette table, kitchen counters or work areas. When used over end tables they free up space normally occupied by table lamps.

Prism – Refractor of transparent glass or plastic, with three or more straight sides. Light entering one side of the prism bends and exits the other side.

Quartz Lamp – Term derives from the quartz glass that encloses the filament and halogen gas. Quartz glass can withstand the high pressure of the halogen lamp, but it transmits more UV radiation than ordinary hard glass. Touching the quartz glass with bare hands leaves an oily residue that greatly reduces lamp life.

Rated Lamp Life – The point in hours where 50% of a lamp type initially started will still be functioning.

Reflector – A piece of material with a reflective surface that directs light in a desired direction. Reflectors are frequently specular, but may also be glossy, diffuse or matte.

Regency Style Chandelier – A larger chandelier with a multitude of drops. Above a hoop rise strings of beads that diminish in size and attach at the top to form a canopy. A bag, with concentric rings of pointed glass, forms a waterfall beneath. The stem is usually completely hidden.

Sconce – Wall bracket fixture derived from the form of a candelabra, often with exposed or decorative light sources.

Shade Measurement – Measure in this order: Top across, bottom across, slant of the sides, height.

Soda Glass – A type of glass used typically in Venetian glass chandeliers. Soda glass remains “plastic” for longer when heated, and can therefore be shaped into elegant curving leaves and flowers.

Soft-White Lamp – Incandescent lamp with a dense, milky-white silica coating on the inside of the bulb. Diffuses the light and completely conceals the light filament.

Specular Finish – Highly polished and mirror-like. Semi-specular finish is generally bright, but without a well-defined mirror image.

Spire – A tall spike of glass, round in section or flat sided. To which arms and decorative elements may be attached, made form wood, metal or glass.

Strass – Crystal of the ultimate chemical purity, saturated with more than 30% lead oxide, cut and polished with ultimate precision by a machine. This is the finest crystal available and also the most expensive.

Swag – Material or chain hanging in a decorative fashion between two points.

Task Lighting – Lighting directed to a specific area or surface that provides illumination for visual tasks, such as reading, sewing or cooking. It can be provided by recessed and track lighting, portable lighting or pendant lamps. Task lighting should be free of distracting glare and should be bright enough to prevent eyestrain.

Tent – A tent shaped structure on the upper part of a glass chandelier where necklaces of drops attach at the top to a canopy and at the bottom to a larger ring.

Tiffany Lighting – Based on original designs by American Louis Comfort Tiffany, Tiffany lighting relies on cut stained glass and ornately detailed bases, often in bronze. Tiffany was heavily influenced by Japanese art forms in which nature was front and center.

UL – Underwriters Laboratory. Commonly referred to as “UL”. An independent organization whose responsibilities include rigorous testing of electrical products. When products pass these tests, they can be labeled and advertised as “UL Listed”. UL tests for product safety only.

Venetian – A glass from the island of Murano, Venice but usually used to describe any chandelier in Venetian style.

Victorian Style – A style derived from the late 19th century British period. Typical of Victorian lighting details are candelabras with decorative ornaments, colored glass lanterns, fixtures with brass and cut glass, and dangling crystal fringes.

Waterfall – Concentric rings of icicle drops suspended beneath the hoop or plate.

Wrought Iron – Soft iron that is hammered and bent into decorative shapes.