A.V. Cabinet finally has a door.

Finally, the audio-visual cabinet is finished. What was once a laundry closet is now full of A.V. equipment and the door is installed.  Does it look familiar? It should! You have been part of the construction. If you are anything like me, finishing a project brings huge satisfaction. The fish give a tactile perception because of the raised the painting on the scales and the slickness of the glass. Did I mention that I'm glad this is finished?

Phil made the door for it last weekend. I spent today filling the holes with wood putty and priming and painting it today.  Did I tell you that I'm happy it's finished?

Phil looks rather small compared to the panel...maybe the photographer is a little biased. So much concentration in one spot nearly caused an electrical black-out. Frankly (did I already mention that I'm very glad this is finished?) it looks good. I don't have to worry about the panel getting damaged (I think it's even earthquake proof).

McCabe Coat of Arms

 I think the helmet is my favorite part of the McCabe coat of arms.  It was a blast painting it.

 The salmon (right) was another kick to paint.  I didn't know salmon had flat backs and dumpy tummies.  This actually looks more like a trout posing as a salmon.


I had fun with the vines, too.  Curlicues with shadowing is fun.  Would I do this again?  In a heartbeat!!!

This is the very first time I've tried a by-the-book coat of arms painting on clear glass.  There are so many things that went right with it that I will overlook the "wrong" stuff, for now.  I wanted it to look very old, rubbed out, scratched through.  I might have gone a bit overboard on the base coat texture.  To me, it looks more like an etching, or a wood cut stamped on paper.  I placed the 5" x 5" piece of glass on top of a pale white ceramic mold (see the little air vent hole in the middle of the wavy part?) so I could get a constant background for photography.

panel in daylight

 As promised, here are two daylight pictures--one taken inside (right) and one take outside (left). I like the one on the left, better than the one on the right, and the one on the right will be the lighting we try to achieve when we put the panel into the cabinet door. The pink lotus blossom will be pinker because the vagaries of the camera don't really do the panel justice.

Koi panel is "all done," as some folks say!

The koi panel is "all done"(as some folks say when they've completed a task). I finished leading and soldering it tonight, after work. The next stage is to get Phil to build a cabinet door frame for it.  He's out fly fishing today.  If he had stayed home, he could have had flattened koi instead.  Not as tasty, though.

The picture was taken at night.  I'll take another one tomorrow morning when it's sunny out (and over 100 df AGAIN).

Ready to begin construction

Everything has been foiled. Where there isn't foil there will be lead came. The perimeter edges will be finished in zinc. Construction will have to wait for a couple of weekends (too late to begin tonight--Sunday). The exterior of the house is being painted next weekend and my work bench is in the open. I don't want to have the panel covered in terra cotta colored texture coat.

 The koi are finished, fired and I'm ready to begin building the panel.  Glassline stained glass paint works just fine.  The gray scales fired out to a lovely pale gray, unobtrusive, and that was what I was worried about.

Here is a close up of fins and scales...

and below, a close up of the female fish's eyes and mouth.

The Right Stuff

I finally got the glass for the koi panel. It's taken a while to paint the scales.  Very tedious. The paint is not the usual Reusche, but Glassline, and it is best fired at 1500 df which definitely makes the glass have a different visual texture--smoother and shinier after test firing.  Firing that hot also makes the edges of the fired piece rounder.

The scales may not show up in direct light because they are painted gray and will fire quite pale. However, the aim is to hint at the scales, not have them be obvious.  The eyes and mouth and whiskers, however, are painted with Glassline black over the pale gray.  If it all works out I'll be one happy camper.  Keep your fingers crossed!