Wow! The term went by so quickly. I definitely had a lot of fun with this project, which I’m going to title “Out of the Depths”, referring to how all of the color we see in the final piece comes from the inside, as well as the fact that the piece has many facets and an interesting depth to it.

I really like how the project turned out. Although I went through many ideas before finally settling on this, I am glad of where I ended up. I am actually looking to make a few more of these, but play with the shapes used, the size of each shape as well as the color combinations. I think if I use darker glass for the inner shape, a nicer infinity effect might be possible. In any case, below are pictures and videos of my final piece. Enjoy!

 

 

Outline of Process:

1. Cut dichro scraps into 3″ and 2″ equilateral triangles using diamond saw (it would also be cool to explore other shapes).
   1. Note: Many pieces end up breaking because this saw is very aggressive and the pieces of dichro are relatively thin. To help combat this, we cut the pieces about a cm outside of the final size I wanted for the triangle.
2. Grind down the triangles into the desired size. Here I used a diamond lathe. I tried both a sand belt and normal 220-grit silicon carbide and both processes were very very slow.
3. Attach the triangles together to form pyramids. I thought about using solder, epoxy and UV glue, but ultimately settled with copper tape.
4. Construct a box to house all the wiring, attach a mirror on top and finally place the dichro triangles on top of this mirror and light set up.
5. Turn off the lights and enjoy!

Although this 5-step outline above seems relatively straight-forward (I thought it was going to be as well), it definitely was not! There was a lot of failure and recalibration involved with this project. Further details can be found in my previous posts.

Materials and Credits:

• Dichroic Scrap Glass – Ordered from DichroGlassman on Etsy
• Copper Tape – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DSYCMXG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• LEDs – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LPZQKKC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• Sticker Mirrors – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075R3MMX1/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• Thank you to Gale Scott and the New Street Glass Studio for helping cut the dichroic glass with their instruments as well as providing space to grind and polish the glass. This project would not have been possible without this help!