Product Description

On this page you will be able to find detailed information about my products and links to other product pages.


Links to other product pages on this site:
Template Based Projects
Product Guide
Sample Images
Premade Projects

What do I make?

I am glad you asked. I make a wide variety of items. Other than the stained glass items, pretty much everything else typically has various carvings incorporated into the project. Below you will find a list of products I can make. This list may appear to be comprehensive, but it is not. On occasion I will make items that are not on this list. Some of these products you will be familiar with, while others, maybe not so much. We will discuss some of these in detail further down this page.

        

Product Descriptions

Ok, so you have read the list above, but now, you are thinking, hey, I have never heard of some of these things. I will try to explain them the best I can. Pictures are sometimes better than words, however for some of this stuff, a picture does it no justice. In reality they need to be viewed up close and personal. To see live displays of my products, please visit my show booth, Wood, Glass & More at any of the next Upcoming Events. To see images of products, please visit the Portfolio link in the menu bar. I will begin descriptions with things that most people probably are already familiar with, then continue toward the least familiar.

• Stained Glass: Stained glass panels are usually designed to fill an entire window opening. They can also be made to fill just a portion of the window opening. Panels can also be much smaller than the window opening and act more like a suncatcher. Stained glass suncatchers are typically smaller sized panels that do not take on the shape of the window opening. Suncatchers can be just about any shape and vary in size. Stained glass dimensional art is usually not displayed in a window, because they are three dimensional, like a box shape for example. They usually sit on a counter, table or desk top, and even a window sill. Some are designed to hang from the ceiling, kind of like a plant or hanging flower pot. To view images of stained glass projects, click on the Portfolio link in the menu bar.

 

• Signage: I am pretty sure everyone knows what a sign is. We as people are subjected to them everywhere. Signs are commonly associated with business or commercial activity. Signs for the most part serve just one purpose, which is, they are used to inform us of something. The content of a sign can be letters, words, symbols and even images, or any combination there of. They can be just about any shape or size and be made from many types of Materials. The actual use and purpose of the sign will help determine which type of materials are best suited for the situation. A quick and brief example, let's say the sign is to be displayed outdoors, it should be constructed of a material that can perform well and endure the elements of the environment in which it lives.

 

• Plaques and Name Plates: Plaques and name plates are essential the same as a sign in pretty much every aspect. Name plates are commonly displayed on or next to the entrance door of an office, or on a work desk as a way to indicate as to whom the occupant is. Plaques typically are displayed similar to a picture in a frame, they either hang on a screw driven into a wall or rest on a stand which is placed on a table or a shelf. In most situations a name plate or plaque is easily moved to a new location. They are portable, where as signage is generally considered to be permanently affixed to another object, like a building or post. Just like signage, plaques and name plates can be custom designed and taylored to suit your needs. I do offer what I call, "template based projects", to learn about Template Based Projects, click on the link.

 

• Awards and Trophies: These two items are very close to the same thing. They both are a form of a prize. An award is typically granted as recognition of an achievment. A trophy is received as a symbol of victory. These items sometimes are very simple and basic taking on the appearance of a plaque, but they can also be complex, unique and beautiful. Then there are those that fall into the category of "If you've seen one, then you've seen them all." I think it would be safe to say, that for the most part, just about everyone has seen those kind. They are everywhere, the market is flooded with them. I call them "cookie cutter" trophies, because they are assembled using mass produced parts and pieces, which to me, makes them all look alike. Thats just my observation and opinion of course. You can be rest assured that I do not participate in using such methods. To see some examples of awards and trophies that I have made, click the Portfolio link.

  

• Keepsake Boxes: I think of a keepsake box as a container for one to stowaway their personal little treasures. These containers can take on about as many different shapes, sizes and forms as the variety of items that get placed in them. The same holds true for how fancy or elaborate the details can be on them as well. This type of item makes for an excellent special gift to give someone, because it is has purpose and functionality. It can be personalized for a specific person or situation.

 

• Urns: Urns are a vessel for ashes which are generated from a cremation process of a loved one or pet. There are two types of cremation, fire based and alkaline hydroysis, the latter is often refered to as "hydro cremation". I make mention of this because the method of cremation used has influence on the urns chamber size. The chamber size required is proportional to body weight. For fire based cremation the general rule is, one cubic inch of space is needed for each pound of body weight. Hydro cremation produces ashes that have around 20% more volume than fire based. This information is vital for the design process and would be necessary to calculate the minimum size required for the chamber. This would be the only restriction to effect either the chamber size or overall size, of the urn. You can most certainly choose to have the urn be any size that is desired, just as long as it meets the minimum size requirements for the volume of ashes. I need to mention a few other things here, currently, I do not have any inventory on hand of premade urns. The process to design and create a custom urn can and does take several weeks, so please keep this in mind should you want to commission an urn project. Also, I do not make any urns out of metal.

 

• 3D Relief Carvings: For the most part we all know a little something about what a carving is, or at least have seen one in some form or another. A 3D relief carving is a just a type of carving. This type of carving can be referred to as just "relief carving" with out the "3D". This is because they are not fully three dimensional. Relief carving gets the name because it is carved into or onto the surface of the material. The image carved is projecting outward giving the appearance of being three dimensional. An example of this type of carving would be President Lincoln's likeness at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. His likeness is carved into the stone but looks as to be protruding outward, a sort of 3D effect.

 

• Photo V-Carving and Halftones: These two items could very well be something you are not familiar with. Photo v-carvings and halftones have a lot in common and are very simular. They both are a type of carving which usually originates from a photograph. The photo image is carved into the material. The thing that really sets them apart is how they are carved. There is a few ways they can be done, but for our conversation I will stick to the way I do them. A v-carved image is created with an aray of linear grooves. The grooves vary in width and depth to create the effect. The halftone is essentially the same thing, except instead of grooves, it is created using an aray of linear shallow holes that are carved into the material. The holes vary in depth and diameter to produce the image. The result is an effect allowing the image to materialize before your eyes, almost like it were an illusion. Since one is holes and the other is grooves, they do look different.

 

• LED Edge Lighting: Edge lighting is one of those things you probably don't know by name, however I bet you have been in a building somewhere and seen it in use. Edge lighting is really just a type of signage. I call it LED edge lighting, because I use LED's for my products. It is actually known as just "edge lighting". LED is the abbreviation for, light emitting diode. When light is transmitted through the edge of a transparent sheet material it will remain some what invisible until it emerges from the opposing edges. If you were to do this on material that is flat with a smooth surface, it would look like the edges have light around them. When words are carved on the flat smooth surface and then light is applied from the edge, the words appear luminous. This happens because the light beam is refracted where the material has been carved out. For some it may be difficult to visualize this and I agree, so please check out the images in my Portfolio. The material I use is a clear acrylic that has properties that work well for machining. The use of LED's allows for multiple colors of light.

 

• Lithophane: When I talk about lithophanes, the response I get from most people is a facial expression of bewilderment. Lithophanes are not something new to people, in fact they were so popular in the 1820's that many European countries were producing them in factories. Many historians argue that the idea originated in China a thousand years before that, during the Tang Dynasty, which was from 618 to 907. Well that was way before my day, so I will stick to what I know, and leave all that for the historians to hash out. In this description I will not cover all the historic methods and materials used to make lithophanes. Instead I will generalize and discuss how I make them, but first let's talk about what a lithophane actually is. A lithophane is a relief carving on a thin translucent material where the subject of the carving is not clearly visible until it is back lit with a source of light. The result is a grayscale image. The way the image takes on this appearance is due to the thickness variation of the carving. Simply put, the lowest, or in this case the thinest portions, allow for a higher level of light to pass through the material than does the highest or thickest portions of the carving. So what you get is light and dark areas, called contrast, which is what makes the image visible. The light source could be ambient such as the sun, or artificial like an LED or even a plain regular light bulb. Candles have been used as well. They can be carved from several different types of material. I use solid surface Materials to make lithophanes, because it carves excellent and lights up great. Like photo v-carving and halftones, lithophanes are most commonly designed using a photograph. At this point you probably want to see a lithophane, well you are in luck. It just so happens that I have some images located in my Portfolio, so please feel free to have a look.