LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Project Information

Hey everyone, first off I would like to say thanks for all the welcomes. I have never met a more friendly online community.

I thought I would share my latest project. I'm fairly new at woodworking (started last summer) and have been working on this for about a year in total. I spent the winter months working on the stained glass portion of the project and the spring designing a coffee table around the stained glass. I decided to go with 1×6 poplar to border the glass, 2×2 poplar legs and 1×3 trim around the table. I used mortise and tenon joints (my first time every making them) with my newest and favorite addition to my tool collection (a plunge router). I used a simple Minwax mahogany stain with a satin finish.

As it stands the glass is inset into the table top and I put a 1/4 inch clear glass over top of the table to protect the stained glass and actually make it a useful table that can support items.

I'm not sure if I want to goto the next step. I was thinking of mounting lights underneath the table so you could really see the stained glass coming through. Kind of like the picture I attached. My only concern is how to mount the lights without having an electric cord running from the table. Any ideas?

Anyway just thought I would share my project and get your comments.

Take care
CanadaJeff

Gallery

Comments

· Registered
Joined
·
320 Posts
Nice work and welcome to LJs!

Thanks for the post

Callum
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,018 Posts
Hello fellow Canuck.

Hmmm . . . stained poplar. Looks nice. Did it have a greenish undertone to the wood prior to staining? The poplar that I have has a green undertone.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,329 Posts
Welcome to LumberJocks.

That's a nice table and the stained glass looks great in the top. Being able work in multiple mediums is a definite plus.
 

· Banned
Joined
·
1,048 Posts
Nice work Jeff and welcome aboard. I really like the look of the stained glass .
 

· Registered
Joined
·
2,212 Posts
this is really nice!!! matt…

AND…WELCOME TO LJ's…great place…
 

· Registered
Joined
·
100 Posts
Nice table and Welcome aboard.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,487 Posts
Nice looking table and glass work. You did a great job on it. Thanks for posting.

God Bless
tom
 

· Registered
Joined
·
796 Posts
Great looking table. It is difficult to back light stained glass artificially without hot spots. It is best to somehow diffuse the light somehow. I am not sure about lighting without a cord. Thank you for sharing.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,699 Posts
Trifern beat me to it. I've actually been thinking of backlighting some oil painting i bought (i know it sounds odd, but it works and looks great). I've been looking for diffuser paper from photo supply places, but I don't htink I'm looking in the right places or looking up the right term.

anotehr option to the paper, which might work ok for your purposes and be sturdier, would be to look into an overhead light diffuser for floureescent lights (like those used to replace drop ceiling panels where lights are in place). I know you weren't asking about this, but just some ideas if you run with triferns sufggestions. Let me know if you try any of these.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
22 Posts
http://www.photoglow.com/
Something like this might work for backlighting. It runs off of 12V from a wall transformer, or from a 12V battery. They say custom sizes are available.
DIY solutions could include LEDs, fluorescent light diffusers as HokieMojo mentioned, and/or white (as opposed to clear) plexiglass. Lighting a piece of glass from the edge with multiple bright LEDs might work.

Really nice table and stained glass!! Welcome to LJ!
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1 Posts
Very nice table, looks like your hard work paid off.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
0 Posts
I've recently been researching stain glass table tops, and I've been reading that stain glass is not meant to be horizontal and will sag over time under its own weight if not properly supported. Have you noticed this is a problem for your table and how did you reinforce the bottom of it?
 
Top