Watercolor study
The yard light project was a result of my desire to create a more interesting and colorful light box for my existing bland 4-panel clear glass front yard light. And I also wanted it to reflect the organic design of the Arts and Crafts design of the side lights I built for my front entrance door.
The first thing was to develop the design and create the pattern. Using one of the existing yard light glass panes, I traced the outline onto butcher’s paper and then created a pencil sketch of the design. I used watercolor to layout the color scheme for the glass elements so I could more easily visualize how the final panels appear - paper wrinkled because I didn’t use paper made for watercolor. The image at left is the result of the initial design work.
Once I had the design I wanted, it was transferred to another piece of butcher’s paper, which was laminated to stabilize and protect it from water and liquid flux from the glass grinding and soldering processes. The following photos show the steps in cutting, fitting, and soldering processes, as well as the finished installed panels.
Finished Pattern
Yard lite laying out
First panel ready for solder
Finished and installed