Project 15: Time For a Meeting of the Minds

Can you believe it? I'm posting on time, if not early for me! Woo! This week I made a clock. I found a clock mechanism at Michael's, which if you couldn't tell by now, is my favorite store. There isn't a whole lot to say about this one. I think it turned out really well, but I'm not entirely sure what sparked the idea. So I'll stop rambling and let the project speak for itself.

The Process:

So I drew up a concept on my computer.

I didn't have any black glass, so I couldn't do the classic black on white. I went with brown and tan  instead.

 I cut out the glass pieces and drilled a hole in the center of one of the pieces so I could attach the clock mechanism.

Next, Foiling!

Then I soldered my pieces together. Usually when I make a circular window, I add copper pipe around the edge to act as the frame. However, bending the copper pipe into the correct shape is difficult and tedious and usually ends with me swearing under my breath. So I decided to try something new. I have some lead u-came, which is used in traditional leaded stained glass windows. Lead is incredibly malleable, so I stretched the channel around the window and soldered into place. It looks really nice, but turned my hands black.

Lead Exposure!

Finally, I had to paint on the numbers of the clock. On my original paper design, I used a protractor to divide the face into 12 slices (30 degrees for each slice)! However, I eyeballed the number placement from the design instead of properly drawing it out. So my clock numbers may not quite be in the right space, but they're pretty close.

Final Product:

Project 14: Got Jesus on My Necklace

Over the weekend I went on a whirlwind trip to Ohio to see some of my friends graduate! Congratulations to the class of 2012! Anyway, my foray into the Midwest chopped some time off of my project. So simplicity was the goal! What's simpler than a necklace right? I shied away from the idea of jewelry for awhile because I thought glass pieces would be too heavy and awkward to wear. But my necklace turned out nice enough, so maybe I've been convinced. Although, this particular necklace will have to be looked at as a proof of concept rather than something I'll be wearing out and about. The only kind of solder I have has a high lead content and apparently lead exposure on skin isn't good for you. Oops. Also, I took the liberty of doing a little photo-shoot with my necklace, so I hope you all forgive my vanity. I think any other girl would have done the same in my position. 

If only my fingernails were red!

The Process:

The first step was to cut out my glass pieces and foil them.

Then, I had to make wire loops and solder them to the points of my rhombi (geometry strikes again!). I have this awesome thing called a Helping Hand, which I could use to hold my glass at the right angle to attach my loops. 

The Helping Hand at work.

I bought chain and cut it into pieces and attached it to the loops. I wired the chain to the glass pieces, which is probably not the most effective way to do it, but it's still in the prototyping stage. Downside, the wire was a little pokey, when I was wearing it..

Last step was to attach a clasp.

Final Product aka My Model Debut: 

Project 13: Trying to Put the World Inside a Picture Frame

The goal for this week was to do a low key project, since last week's project was insane. So I made two picture frames. This really couldn't have been any easier. Michael's sells pre-cut picture frame glass, so that was two fewer pieces of glass I had to cut. I ended up cutting eight pieces of glass total, which is not many. 

The Process:

The process is the same standard stained glass steps. After cutting pieces out, I foiled them.

 After foiling, the frames were soldered together.

The most challenging part of this was figuring out how to attach the backing to the frame. I attach copper wire to the frames to allow the backs to be slid into place.

The Final Product:
I left the blue frame as was. I added a little paint and patina to jazz up the tan frame a little more.

Project 12: A Carousel Roundup

So you may have noticed that I didn't post a project last week. No, I did not fall off the bandwagon. I just was overly ambitious. Way too ambitious. So ambitious that it took me a little over 2 weeks to finish the project. However, I think you will forgive me because, in my humble opinion, this project is impressive. I made a carousel. 

The Process:

There were five different components to figure out for the carousel. The base, the center, the support for the top, the top itself and the horses. The first on the docket was the top. The way to create a cone shape is to cut out uniform isosceles triangle and line them up in a circle. A space is left in the circle and the triangles are taped together and pulled into a cone shape.

The top was then soldered to hold its shape.

The next component to be built was the center. I decided to make the center a hexagon because the top was a dodecahedron. A hexagon has half as many sides and that had a nice symmetry. Geometry is fun!

Hexagon

The base was designed to fit around the center, instead of being one solid piece of glass. This was so I could have a way to attach the center to the base. I drilled holes into the base to create a place for the carousel poles to fit.

The top support had to be a solid piece of glass. The top sits atop the support. The support keeps the top from losing its shape. I drilled holes into the support to have a place for the carousel poles. Unfortunately, a piece of the support snapped off, so I had solder that together. An annoying set back.

The top support complete with crack.

Next I attached the top support to the center.

I wanted the center of the carousel to look fancy, so I cut out mirrors and glued them on.

While waiting for the mirrors to set, I cut out the pieces for my horses. I soldered them together and added the carousel poles.

All the Pretty Horses

Then I put my horses into their positions.

I cut apart a tomato cage to get the thicker wire. The thicker wire served as the outer supports. I had to cut the wire with a hand saw, which took an annoyingly long time.

You can see my camera in the mirror!

I secured all the poles into place so they wouldn't wiggle or fall out.

Top view.

The top was soldered into place next.

The final step was to patina my solder lines and attach the lights.

Final Product:

I hope this project was well worth the wait. I daresay next week's project will be low-key.