Most of my art inspiration comes from nature and my favorite places. For this project my inspiration is the ocean, I love the different colors of the water and how peaceful it is. I want to create a light box/rectangular lamp out of stained glass that emulates the shadows and light patterns on the sea floor from the sun. The water refracts the light and tones it down which is what the glass will do. I am still just learning how to do stained glass so this will definitely be a good challenge for me and the hardest thing I have done. I will use shades of blue and clear cathedral glass so that it will let a lot of light through. I am still deciding on the pattern of the glass either being rectangular strips, triangles or a nautical star pattern. The project is going to be dynamic because I am going to install a color changing light bulb that connects to your phone through Bluetooth. You can change the brightness and color from an app, and even make it blink or flash. I think the different colors will be interesting because the blue glass will tint the color while the clear glass will allow it to come through.
Artist Question- what shape of glass and what type of lights do you guys think would make this project illuminate light that looks like the sea floor?
I agree that a lightbulb would work really well with this project over a tiny LED! I think if you could do curved pieces or have tiny triangles form wave like shapes, that would look very cool on the lantern and it would be interesting if that would be reflected in the lanterns shadows too.
I dont think an LED would shine threw tinted glass that strongly so you are probably better off with your lightbulb idea. I dont know much about working with glass but im curious if the glass has air pockets in it would that result in some sort of bubbly illumination effect on the wall after the light passes through it.
I think that if you have the ability to work with curved pieces (it seems like an advanced technique but I don’t know very much) that curved shapes would be incredible. I think that long thin triangles could also create the effect you are looking for!
I don’t know how hard it would be, but I think having smooth flowing or curved pieces would definitely bring across the sea theme. I think especially swirls, spirals, and other similar shapes to a good job of representing the sea.
I think that having textured glass would be cool and could maybe make a “rippling” effect that you can sometimes see in the water! I also think the lightbulb that you can control through your phone would work really well!