Luck - Chinese Character In Stained Glass

This stained glass version of the Chinese symbol for Luck is currently for sale. This artwork was as hard to make as it now is to photograph. I'm sure I will replace these photos with better ones if I am ever able to get some. The first two photos show how different an artwork can look to a camera. Thankfully, the human eye sees it all correctly every time. This artwork is made with 1/4" and 1/8" lead came. The extensive spiral overlays are made from lead and backed with brass wire to make them strong. This was a very difficult artwork to make. The third photo shows the pieces of glass laid out and ready to be leaded into place. There were a lot of inside points in this project, that is, places where a 90-degree indentation had to be ground into the glass (I don't use a glass band-saw as some people do). In some places there were two of these next to each other, requiring a small square to be ground out of the neighboring glass. As with all of my artworks, I cut all of the pieces before starting the construction phase. For this project, my accuracy was right on, and I did not have to re-cut any of the pieces while putting this one together. Every inside point required cutting two pieces of lead at 45-degree angles. Most people build their stained glass on top of a full size drawing of the artwork. My self-taught method is so precise that I don't usually build my artworks on a pattern of any kind. However, with a difficult circular project such as this, I do make a pattern of just the circular lines, as you can see in the third photo. Doing this ensures that everything comes out perfect. This artwork is mounted in an oak frame, which can be seen in the lighter photo. The size is 34-3/4", including the wood frame.