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| Supported by a couple of footstools, I was able to catch some sunlight in this shot… walking softly as I surely didn't want it to fall over… |
This is a project I've just completed. It is a very large panel of five feet in length and almost three feet in height. It is also very heavy with all the oak woodwork. The hummingbird in the center is made up of several beveled pieces of clear glass and sparkles in the sun as it catches the light. It is surrounded by a stringer/fracture glass used to give the impression of foliage.
The panel is actually rectangular but I had to play with perspectives in photoshop below to fit it into a photo, since it is large enough that I didn't have any place to capture it straight on. The colors are somewhat muted here because it's in a north window… the reds are actually very brilliant as are the blues when seen in sunlight … much more so than I can capture in a photo.
The panel will be hung about twenty feet above the floor but will be viewed reasonably straight on when seen from a second floor landing as the homeowners prepare to descend from the second floor of their house.
The homeowner wanted a rustic sense to the woodwork so I experimented with ideas that combine the Victorian sense of the glass design with a touch of rustic. To do that, I created the dentil molding out of some old knotty red oak and used three different layers of color. The result of a layer of special walnut worked into grain indentations in the wood, followed by Minwax China Red and finally Minwax Rosewood which was also used on the rest of the frame, gives a sense of age. Although the dentil molding color doesn't show well in the photo, it presents a contrast of a reddish brown hue with the remainder of the frame.
For strength, the frame itself is held together with ten mortises and floating tenons of beech wood… while today's woodworking glues would likely present plenty of strength, the M/T 's will certainly last indefinitely. Since it will be hung from the trim pieces, additional screws countersunk and plugged with padauk wood extend into the main frame pieces, again making the piece very sturdy.
I am anxious to get into some lamp projects in the studio before the gardening season begins, but I am in the process of designing and creating an additional five panels that I have committed to… the project that I am engaged in now will actually be a triptych or three panels related by the design theme of a grape arbor heavy in fruit at sunset with dragonflies. It will be very time consuming because of the intricacy of the design.
Larry
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