Lucite Luminous Glow information

Ken Schwartz (a local New York City artist) is seeking help from any
Orchid member.

He is manufacturing in Lucite material (Poured & Carved). He has not
been able to reproduce the glow that he is sees in other work that
is being imported.

" It is not the reflection of external light but the internal glow
that he seeks. It glows as it sits in the showcase a luminous glow."

Please respond on the Orchid Forum & perhaps send a copy of your
response to Ken Schwartz in care of schwartb@mskcc.org

Ken Schwartz phone # 212 787-1840

  He is manufacturing in Lucite material (Poured &Carved). He has
not been able to reproduce the glow that he is sees in other work
that is being imported. " It is not the reflection of external
light but the internal glow that he seeks. It glows as it sits in
the showcase a luminous glow." 

It may be sitting on a light source - small bulb, fiber optic,
edge-lighted plastic sheet.

Tas

I was in a gift store yesterday where they were selling small lucite
pieces with internal carvings which were glowing different colors.
They were each sitting on their own small black base which was
battery powered and emitted a small spot of colored light upward.
the lucite piece was centered over the light sorce which caused the
inside carving to glow. It was either Coach House or a Hallmark gift
store. Annette

   He is manufacturing in Lucite material (Poured & Carved). He
has not been able to reproduce the glow that he is sees in other
work that is being imported. 

I’ve seen some types of plexiglass which are quite fluorescent. The
sheet seems to act as a light guide/intififier, almost. I think it’s
intended for things like signs. The face of the sheet is colored,
but unexceptional. but when those faces are illuminated, the edges
positively glow, so letters or shapes formed from sheet, where the
desired designs are the lines formed by the edges, can then be a
highly visible apparently glowing image, either from just ambient
light hitting the sides of the sheet, or actual side illumination.
Not sure if that helps your friend, but i’m wondering if this is some
specialized dye or manufacturing process they use. I’ve only seen
this in plexiglass brand acrylic sheet, but it may be available in
other manufacturers too.

Hope that’s of use.
Peter

g’day if the person who began this thread did not mean the glow
provided by placing the object over some artificial light source
such as a l.e.d or flashlight bulb, then some colourless plastics
can have a small amount of a fluorescent substance dissolved in
them. quinine is one of these and ultra violet light falling upon
it will make it glow an eerie blue.

a small amount of fluorescein which is really an intense red will
give a green glow; there are many such dyes which can be used with
clear two pot synthetic resins to fluoresce when illuminated by
certain light wavelengths. these wavelengths are absorbed by the
dye which then re emitssome of the light in a different colour.
calcite crystals do this naturally

to illustrate this, it is possible to cast some object containing a
little of one of these dyes, then cast a ball or block of untreated
plastic over it. see it in dim incandescent light and the
internal object will be scarcely visible. allow a ray of sunlight
to illuminate it, and the internal casting will spring to life.

please excuse one handed typing; no upper case.

yes, i am repairing well, regarding the circumstances, but ribs
still painful. spend most of the time sleeping. not allowed out
without a leash those of you who saw the show ‘‘cats’’ will
understand when i sing ‘‘oh i’m like a gumby cat that sits upon the
window shelf and sits and sits and sits…’’

i have received well over 40 ‘get well’ mails; too many to reply to
individually, so i here thank y’all very kindly for your healing
wishes don’t blame the dentist; it was just me dancing the heavy
fantastic on a concrete step and diving on scungy gravel.

Cheers for now,
John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua, Nelson NZ

" It is not the reflection of external light but the internal glow
that he seeks. It glows as it sits in the showcase a luminous glow."

Hi All, My guess is he is referring to the matte finished pieces
which have a softness and glow to them similar to beach glass. I don’t
know how the finish is applied, perhaps sandblasted or tumbled.

Mark

Unless, as many people suggested, you are using a light source under
you Plexiglas or acrylic pieces you need to be aware of the
contrasting thinness of the different parts of the piece if you want
to have it appear to glow. If you back angle cut so that you channel
the light in and through the material, the thinner areas appear
lighter and brighter by contrast. This principle seems to work best
with translucent materials, especially white, when they have a mat
finish. One of the best way to produce this mat appearance and a
wonderful tactile surface quality is to first abrade off the shiny
coating with 600 or 1500 silicone carbide paper and then to soft
brush the piece with very fine pumice. Shot blasting works but not
as well. Sandblasting works too but usually discolors the
translucent white acrylic. For color, when I did this type of work,
I sandwiched theatre gels between the pieces of acrylic. Even if you
do all of this, the acrylic will only pick up and redirect the
ambient light. Or at least, that has been my experience.HTH

Linda

These are very popular in the Chinese Gift Stores that are all over
the city of Toronto and many other places. The object is usually
glass or maybe a leaded crystal shaped like a tall rectangle with
the corners rounded off and inside is a fibre optic figure of the
Twin Towers or a dancer or a flower or even the various animals of
the Chinese Calender. When you place the block of glass on a small
pedestal and turn on the batteries underneath: 3 tiny coloured light
bulbs illuminate the fibreoptic figure inside the glass.I believe
every time you press the switch, it changes to a different colour.
They resemble fibreoptic lights in that the coloured light is
transmitted through the little figurine. The whole thing may cost
about 25 or 30 dollars (CN). Just another example of the wondrous
novelties that come out of Asia. They really are masters of light
and colour and glass.

Judy, my guess is that the items which you are describing are NOT
fiber optic, BUT “laser art.” Since they were first invented (within
the last 10 years,) they have become ubiquitous in gift shops and on
’carts’ in malls, and at tourist attractions.

They are cubes (spheres, etc.) USUALLY of glass, (perhaps some are
acrylic) in which the design has been embedded by ‘burning’ tiny
pits completely within the inside of the object. There is even a
device which I have seen for doing this on a custom basis. You sit
for a ‘portrait’ and voila, you get a three-dimensional picture
(bust) inside the cube.

When I first saw this technology, It immediately brought to mind the
laser drilling of diamonds. Laser drilling leaves a ‘track’ or tube
from the surface of the diamond to the (removed) flaw.

I told the scientist who showed me the process: "If you can come up
with a way to do this in a diamond WITHOUT leaving the ‘track,’ you
and I can become FILTHY RICH.

(I wouldn’t mind hobnobbing with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and
George Soros .) David Barzilay, Lord of the Rings

p.s. As far as I know, no one HAS done that, any Orchid folks have
that I’m wrong?

David Barzilay

David, I don’t know. The figures inside the glass resemble very
strongly some sort of plastic fibRe: they are white and have little
tag ends that float freely as if it were the edge of a piece of
fabric…But I could be wrong.

Judy

I am not familiar with that look. The ones I described are
ubiquitous in So. Cal. I know the process was developed about 10
years ago, in USSR, I believe. They were first marketed by a company
out of Las Vegas, who went bust (had some legal problems.) Now
they’re produced in HUGE quantities in China. I have seen them at the
Gift Show for years. David Barzilay, LotR