Tag: ocean

Making Waves

I spent most of the day Monday working on gluing down the pieces I had already cut for the rays of the sun, and making waves to start layering the ocean below the sun. First I rough cut some waves, then used my grinder to shape and smooth the edges.

Ready to grind the glass pieces for the 2nd layer of waves

After I got the above pieces ready, I realized that I would need to glue the dichroic glass I had cut and laid out for the suns rays before I started working on the layering for the waves, so I set out to do that.

How the waves / rays looked when I started the day’s work

Using Mac mosaic adhesive and a small paint brush, I spread a thin layer of adhesive onto each piece and then position it where I want it. I already did this step for the main ball of the sun and the first layer of waves last week.

Gluing the rays around the sun

Using a light tray to help me see what I was doing, I worked one row at a time from the inner row to the outer edges. I decided to place the pieces a bit closer together than I previously had them laid out, so I had to rearrange some and also cut quite a few more squares.

Gluing the rays

Once I had all of the rays glued down, including the smaller filler pieces at the edges, I started gluing the second layer of waves in place.

Layering the waves

I will need to make quite a few more waves, but I at least got a start on them today. Gluing the rays in place took most of the day. I really want the mosaic adhesive on the rays to have plenty of time to cure before I pour the resin, otherwise they will be cloudy.

How everything looked at the end of today (light tray powered off)
Snapshot with the flash on my camera (phone)
One last snapshot with reflective light

Hopefully I’ll have time on Tuesday to put some additional waves in place. I also need to plan how / if I will embellish the resin when I pour it. I think I would like to do something at least around the edges of the frame.

Sunset and water

I needed to cut some more dichroic squares to fill in the rest of the background on the sunset window, and I got some time this afternoon, so I worked on that.

Cutting squares of light blue / red metallic dichroic glass.

I filled in as I cut, leaving the smaller pieces I will need to cut to fill in the very edges for later. I have been having second thoughts about the overall look of this the past several days, so I haven’t glued anything in place yet. I also worked on the water / waves underneath the sun. So far I’m pretty pleased with the look of the waves. Now the challenge will be gluing the waves in place without jostling the rest of the pieces around too much.

Filling in the edges using a light table.

The colors of this glass when the light table is underneath the window are surprisingly bright. I love working with this dichro glass. I am hoping the look of the blue squares I added on the edges today will have the effect I’m going for, as the reflecting color of the dichroic coating is metallic red on these pieces as opposed to silver / gold on the rest of the sunset’s rays.

Closeup of the area above the light table

I tried to get some photos with the light table off and a bit more reflective light, but it’s pretty challenging to do with my phone in this lighting. Later on I’ll get my husband to help with the photos, as he’s got better equipment and a lot more experience taking photos.

Ambient light in the room.
More reflective angle.

I still need to glue down these pieces, then start cutting smaller pieces to fill in the gaps, especially around the edges and between the waves. I might try using some decorative flakes in the resin when I pour it, but I’m several days away from getting to that point right now. At least my confidence is up quite a bit now that I have most of the window filled in. I was procrastinating because I was afraid it would look too simplistic, but the progress I made today has made me more satisfied with the overall look. I will probably layer the waves to give them more texture, so they will have more depth (no pun intended).