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| before and after images |
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Piper asked me if I could add solar
powered lighting to her glass and steel artwork that is
designed to be mounted to a wall or posts outside.
This piece is about 14" in diameter and was made from a
rusting farm implement and fused dichroic glass that has
been layered on the back and sandblasted to catch the light.
Rather than trying to engineer a solar power system with
battery and lights from scratch
I realized quite early that the simplest way to accomplish
this project was by re-purposing an existing solar LED yard
lighting kit like the one shown at left that is available
from most hardware stores. This allows the solar panel
(with battery inside the back) to be placed several feet
from the artwork. |
 
I removed the small circuit boards from the plastic light
housings. Each one holds 3 high brightness LED lamps
and had 2 mounting holes in them. I bolted the boards
to the artwork with stainless steel screws, and later coated
the exposed metal parts of the circuit with liquid
electrical tape to protect them from the elements. |
rear view of the artwork and solar module |
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I gave Piper clear instructions on how to reproduce this for
future pieces. This was one of the simple projects I
have undertaken and a real pleasure to work on, since I got
to live with the piece for a few weeks where I tested it on
the outside wall of my workshop. Piper was quite pleased
with the result: |
| "Thanks so much for your work on lighting my steel and glass
sculptures. I had spent a considerable amount of time,
energy, and money working on this project two years ago and,
having no success, set it aside for future exploration. Fast
forward two years and, with just a couple of conversations
and for a very reasonable price, you made them look exactly
like what I had in mind - within a week! I especially
appreciate that you were easy to talk to (even though I know
nothing about electronics) and that you listened carefully
to what I wanted." |
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