Astronomical stained glass panel

[marc4darkskies]

My wife is a fantastic supporter of my hobby and has become quite au fait with amateur astronomy in general, happily reading Sky & Telescope mags at every opportunity (strategicly located in the loo) :)

Her hobby is doing stained glass panels, so, in honour of my passion, she designed this panel for me!

http://upload.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/134205635/large

Note that the final version will see the colour variations of the actual glass add more detail. The colours here are just indicative.

It's a lot of work to make a stained glass panel too - this modest 328 piece project will probably take her around 100 hours to build!

Cheers Marcus ( & chuffed hubby :))

[multiweb]

Wow, that looks great. Really nice. :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

That is going to look awesome.
It would transfer nicely to a quilt too.

[Astroman]

Very nice glass, that would make a nice addition to anyone's loo...

JJJ - I can see a movie coming out now..."How to make an Astronomers quilt"

[leon]

Wow that is awesome, that would look in any home, could be a really seller too.

Leon

[Inmykombi]

Wow, Looks like a lot of work has gone into that, especially around the huge Galaxy.
Wel done....

[Matt Wastell]

That is great - pass on our thanks too - looking forward to seeing the finished product!

[marc4darkskies]

Gail says thankyou for the kind remarks! :thanx:

She's already started cutting the glass and laying it out. (Note: the pattern is laid out mirror image because she has to cut the glass from the non-textured side of the glass. I.e. the textured side is the "front" side). I'll keep you posted how it goes - I'm pretty excited to see the final result!

Cheers, Marcus

[multiweb]

How does she cut such thin and curved pieces of glass without breaking them?

[marc4darkskies]

She does a rough straight cut (glass cutter and/or special band saw and pliers), then she grinds them to shape with a specialised diamond grit grinder.

Edit - see below.

[multiweb]

Wow! I did a bit of marqueterie in the past with varous wood types and that was complicated enough but working with glass must be quite a challenge. Lots of patience.

[gary]

Hi Marcus,

Beautiful! We are all looking forward to seeing pictures of the finished work.

[strongmanmike]

Wow, Marcus, that really is very nice :eyepop:

Where will it go when finished?

Mike

[Miaplacidus]

That's beautiful. I agree with Nettie about the quilt potential too. Lovely.

[Zaps]

Utterly gorgeous!



That sounds just a tad dangerous.

[DavidU]

What a talented lady ! Superb work.

[jjjnettie]

I think it's wonderful too, that you take such pride in your Wife's skills, talent and achievements.
What a great hubby you are!

[h0ughy]

so which room becomes the shrine to the universe - what a project.

[ausastronomer]

Hi Marcus,

That is going to be a really sensational piece of work.

Cheers,
John B

[ausastronomer]

Not trying to hijack Marcus's thread but my wife has already been down the astronomers quilt path with this "solar system" model.

Whilst it leaves a lot to be desired from a technical atronomy point of view, it looks really cool. She made it for our son Jake many years ago. He lives with it on his bed, notwithstanding he was 8 when he got it, and he is now nearly 15.

Cheers,
John B

[jjjnettie]

That's beautiful piece of work John!

[marc4darkskies]

My "control room" (our study) where I hang all my pictures has two big windows ... in front of one of them.



Believe it or not, Gail wanted me to post pictures of the three band aides on her fingers today. I said no, it would be better if there was still some blood flowing!:lol:



Aw thanks JJJ! I'm a lucky guy lucky too :) Gail is always thrilled with any new image I take - she's my biggest fan! :love2:

[strongmanmike]

I'm second biggest then :love:

[jjjnettie]

So jealous.:)

[ballaratdragons]

Marcus, show your wife these astro windows from the Ballarat Observatory.
They are famous and people travel from all around the world to see them.

Hopefully hers will be famous too :)

http://observatory.ballarat.net/museum/welsh.html

http://observatory.ballarat.net/museum/courier.html

http://observatory.ballarat.net/museum/ballcity.html

:thumbsup:

[bartman]

Marcus/Gail,
That is wicked!!!!
Cant wait for the final product!
That be a very worthy piece of art hanging from anybody's wall!!!!!
Bartman

[Paddy]

What a beautiful design, Marcus and what a great way for her to honour your passion with hers. And great to see the beauty of the Ballarat observatory on this site Ken. It is a place of great splendour.

[shelltree]

That is amazing Marcus, you must be absolutely thrilled! :)

[gregbradley]

Fabulous Marcus. It looks great.

Greg.

[astroron]

The panel looks like it will be spectacular when finished Marcus :eyepop:
You should be a very proud man for having such a talented wife:thumbsup:
Cheers

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks a lot everyone (on Gail's behalf). She's chuffed that you guys appreciate it!

She's started rough cutting all the pieces now. After this is completed, she will "foil" all the edges with copper tape and commence soldering everything together. It will be a slow process though but here is an update shot. NOTE: the reflected light (and rather grubby) version you see here is of course completely different to what the transmitted light version will look like (when hanging in front of a window).

Cheers, Marcus

[marc4darkskies]

It just goes to show how long this work takes - the last update was 3 months ago and my wife has been putting in a few hours every weekend!

All the glass was cut, copper foiled and dry fitted. It's now been soldered together and we've had "first light"!!

There's still quite a bit of work to do though: add patina (ageing) to the shiny solder, clean it up (the glass is very dirty) and build the frame.

I'm very pleased with how it's turning out!!

Cheers, Marcus

[jjjnettie]

Oh my goodness. That's spectactular!!
A beautiful piece of artwork.
so beautiful

[strongmanmike]

Looks really great Gail!

Sounds like you must have spent nearly as much time on this as Marcus has on a few of his images :P

BTW, why two domes..?

Mike

[alistairsam]

That looks beautiful marcus.
you're very lucky.
incredible work.

[marc4darkskies]

Gail says thank you!



The 2nd dome represents the dream for the future!

[multiweb]

That looks terrific. :thumbsup: