A while back, I did this simple sandcarving of the Cincinnati Bengals logo on a large piece of glass. I had a wood
Shows photo of the LED lights when it is bright out.
Cincinnati Bengals etching by sandcarving and lit up with LED lights.
frame that wasn’t being used so I cut the glass to size. By the way, this nice large sheet of glass was acquired free using the technique discussed here.
After the logo was sandcarved into the glass, I purchased some orange leds which match the team colors to put along the bottom edge. As you can see from the photos, it lights the bottom half nicely, but not the top half.
To light up the sandcarved glass better, you will need to do one of the following:
- Add more Leds to other sides. In this instance, adding a Led strip to the top side of the frame should be sufficient, but you might want to consider adding them to the sides as well. That would give an orange glow around the full frame instead of the top and bottom.
- Use clear glass. May people who want to light up sandcarved glass or even surface etchings will use clear glass. Most ordinary flat glass is made of iron oxide which provides a green tint when looking at it from the edges. This green coloring prevents the lights from going all the way through the edges fully.
- Add a dark colored backing. I added a black poster board sheet to the back of this project. It might help the light stand out slightly better but it is essential to give color contrast to the etching. The white etching against the black background will make it appear more noticeable when the lights aren’t on.
The below photos show close up of the etching in the darkness. Here the LED’s do a better job lighting up the sandcarving, but the top half still doesn’t get much light.
You can see the full step by step photo tutorial of this project in the members area, along with information on where to get low cost parts by signing up here.
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Have did the same thing with laser etchings, looks really good.
I struggled with lights as well. I use the copper wire fairy lights and place them in the frame behind the engraving and either tape or hot glue the lights in place
Oh by the way … I love this picture. Truly excellent work
Bought these LED waterproof light strips on Amazon. They work great for premitier lighting in frames. Cost about $19.
2 of Sunnest 16.4ft 5M Waterproof Flexible LED Strip Lights 5050SMD RGB 300 LED Color Changing LED Strip Kit with 44Key Remote+12V 5A Power Supply+IR Control Box
@Dan, thanks for sharing! I have purchased something similar but I think it was 5-10 dollars more.
I was searching around and think this is it http://amzn.to/2t2FuoM
Please let me know.