Rocky Mountain Glass Carving - by Randy Mardrus

This is a carved glass (etching) by artist Randy Mardrus of Permanent Reflections (www.permanentreflections.com / www.randymardrus.com) that is featured in the bar in my game room. The piece was commissioned if I remember right back around 2001. Randy is world renowned in his field, completing projects ranging from yachts to planes to cabins to hotels.

The stained glass was done by my uncle Robert Saperstein who does a variety of extremely high level glass projects ranging from Tiffany reproduction to scenes and signs.

I figured I would post a few images of this as it’s in the background of the full bar image with the wildlife carving panels I posted as separate projects. This gives a feature of the glass carving itself as it is one of the main features of the bar. The use of multiple materials, glass, metal, tile, stone, etc. incorporated with wood allows additional texture, creativity, and function … not to mention extra artistic options. Just because we’re woodworkers doesn’t mean we can’t leverage other mediums and/or other artists in our projects!

The glass is ½” thick starfire glass (iron / impurity free glass) that is reverse relief carved with a depth of about 3/8”. The frame is setup with a fiber optic harness configured to direct the light streams directly into the top edge of the glass. This develops the depth and shadows – a 3D effect enhancement as there is already perspective and relief in the scene.

Carving is done with various sand blasting techniques. It’s detailed, unforgiving, and extremely tedious – which is why Randy loves it! The net result is just amazing in person – hard to get the photos to really show it off.

The background is a piece of flat black velvet – just to create a glare free surface and a shadow background. The concept was a bugling elk in the Rocky Mountains w/ the eagle flying above. Classic wilderness scene …
The stained glass is a geometric pattern that is backlit by a loop of fibers from the same fiber harness. The light source is a single halogen bulb in a unit placed inside the bar cabinet.

Overall this carving was inspirational in getting me motivated do to the rest of the carvings in the bar. I met Randy at the onset of this commission, years later we’ve remained friends and traded ideas for artwork, marketing, etc. It’s been interesting to watch progression in both our artistic careers as we both have similar fascinations with nature and wildlife. Check out his websites for some amazingly detailed and creative work …

Enjoy!

-- Eric M. Saperstein, Master Craftsman www.artisansofthevalley.com