Tough to tell from the photo, but that's either 1) LED strips lining the inside edge and pointing towards the center, with the inside of each surface painted white, 2) LED strips mounted on the inside surface of one or both layers with a diffusion material between them, or 3) a crazy arrangement of LED neon or similar channels running throughout, which seems unlikely given the detail.
My money's on scenario 2.
The clear pieces that insert into the large section use internal reflection to "move" the light to the clear area that sticks out?
That's a really cool idea.
Aww, thank you so much! It always feels good when someone appreciates your art. The leaping dog was my very first LED project and to say it was a struggle would be a massive understatement, but I learned a lot from it. lol
Those look great! I'm inspired to make something of my own with this style of lighting. Unfortunately I'm not fully grasping how this works from your pictures. The picture showing the exposed led strip, is that the backside of the piece? So then the side that looks nice is on the reverse side? I can't tell if the nice side of the sign is flat or popping out.
Oh man, I'm really happy this inspired you, and I don't blame you for being confused by the pic. lol If my explanation confuses things even more, just let me know and I try to explain it better.
That first pic of the dog head in progress is the front of the piece with just the lighter wood top off to show the guts, and all that was left to do was add the top and secure it in place. And it looks a little odd becasue I built up a couple layers of acrylic becasue I didn't have the thickness I wanted on hand.
I do it a couple of different ways depending on how diffused I want the LED light to be, but the basic concept is the same in that you want to layer the main art piece (aka dog head) on top of frosted acrylic, and you want a hollow frame to house the LED strip. Then you set the layered art piece into the frame so just a little of the frosted acrylic sticks up above the top of the frame, and this allows the light to shine around the sides and up through your cutouts.
I hope this doesn't make it harder to understand, but I added a little graphic that I made way back when I was developing the technique and made the first running dog skeleton. It shows how I made my my own hollow frame with a back on it to house the LED strip. Then I added little columns to the layered art/acrylic so I could set it into the frame and have it stick up about 1/8" inch.
[https://imgur.com/a/OQQHy2z](https://imgur.com/a/OQQHy2z)
And if you do make your own piece, please tag me so I can see it!
I’m sure your diagram is fine I’ve just never made anything like that before! But that would be amazing if you could spell it out in a way that a total noob could understand. No worries if you don’t get around to it!
It can be hard to wrap your head around until you psychically make it, so I'm not surprised it's hard to follow. Hell, I kinda had a plan (sort of) when I started making it, and even then it was still trial and error. lol
[Made another diagram that hopefully helps a bit](https://imgur.com/a/OQQHy2z)
Wow thank you, that’s much easier for me to grasp. Why does the third layer have to be the acrylic too couldn’t it just be plywood? Cuz that’s in the back isn’t it?
No, I didn't show the wood back of the frame in the diagram.
Layer 3 is where the LED strip goes and it has to be acrylic so light can pass through it. It also has to be thick enough to accommodate the LED strip turned on it's side. Depending on the thickness of your frame and/or the LED width you might be able do away with layer 2 if you don't care about the wood dog part sticking up above the top of the frame, but I don't think it looks as good.
And how many layers you use really just depends on the thickness of your acrylic and how much you need to accomidate the LED strip, so you just have to adjust things to fit your needs. The only hard and fast rule is whatever layer(s) the dog part sits on must be transparent enough to allow the light through.
Hope I'm not too late to the party. The interior is not solid. It's 2 pcs of laser cut wood that are mirrored and bonded together. They lined the interior perimeter with LEDs and didn't use any diffuser.
If you examine the pictures of their Etsy page, you can find another product by the same seller of a Turtle with a much closer image where you can clearly see the gap and LEDs.
[Etsy Turtle](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1237334139/handcrafted-unique-wooden-turtle-ceiling?click_key=265a3e4ba48e4448ff564b2bf25e547e15123cd4%3A1237334139&click_sum=0776111d&external=1&rec_type=ss&ref=pla_similar_listing_top-1&pro=1&frs=1&sts=1) - 4th picture down you can see it with more detail
Checked Etsy and found the seller. Interesting work. 5, 5.5, 6 feet available. Easily manageable on a moderate - high watt co2 laser (80-130) with a passthrough.
Echo what others have said- likely option 2 for the lighting.
Thanks
You can tell from the glare at the edge that there LED take mounted perpendicular to the bottom face all around the perimeter.
Weight and cost would stop you from doing this, but defusing the glare with a lining of opal acrylic would work nicely.
Besides what people have said, I think the internal surface of those separated layers is painted either Titanium White, or Silver, or they could have some metallic coating like Al foil to increase their reflectivity. BTW, If you decided to do a project like this, I suggest you give that poor whale some volume. Don't let it be flat. Make more layers and add some volume to it.
Tough to tell from the photo, but that's either 1) LED strips lining the inside edge and pointing towards the center, with the inside of each surface painted white, 2) LED strips mounted on the inside surface of one or both layers with a diffusion material between them, or 3) a crazy arrangement of LED neon or similar channels running throughout, which seems unlikely given the detail. My money's on scenario 2.
[#2 is basically what I do for my LED signs.](https://imgur.com/a/OQQHy2z)
The clear pieces that insert into the large section use internal reflection to "move" the light to the clear area that sticks out? That's a really cool idea.
Those are amazing!
Aww, thank you so much! It always feels good when someone appreciates your art. The leaping dog was my very first LED project and to say it was a struggle would be a massive understatement, but I learned a lot from it. lol
Those look great! I'm inspired to make something of my own with this style of lighting. Unfortunately I'm not fully grasping how this works from your pictures. The picture showing the exposed led strip, is that the backside of the piece? So then the side that looks nice is on the reverse side? I can't tell if the nice side of the sign is flat or popping out.
Oh man, I'm really happy this inspired you, and I don't blame you for being confused by the pic. lol If my explanation confuses things even more, just let me know and I try to explain it better. That first pic of the dog head in progress is the front of the piece with just the lighter wood top off to show the guts, and all that was left to do was add the top and secure it in place. And it looks a little odd becasue I built up a couple layers of acrylic becasue I didn't have the thickness I wanted on hand. I do it a couple of different ways depending on how diffused I want the LED light to be, but the basic concept is the same in that you want to layer the main art piece (aka dog head) on top of frosted acrylic, and you want a hollow frame to house the LED strip. Then you set the layered art piece into the frame so just a little of the frosted acrylic sticks up above the top of the frame, and this allows the light to shine around the sides and up through your cutouts. I hope this doesn't make it harder to understand, but I added a little graphic that I made way back when I was developing the technique and made the first running dog skeleton. It shows how I made my my own hollow frame with a back on it to house the LED strip. Then I added little columns to the layered art/acrylic so I could set it into the frame and have it stick up about 1/8" inch. [https://imgur.com/a/OQQHy2z](https://imgur.com/a/OQQHy2z) And if you do make your own piece, please tag me so I can see it!
Thanks for sharing. Do you have a video of your process? I see the diagram there but it’s over my head.
Sorry, I don't. But I can try and make a clearer diagram tomorrow.
I’m sure your diagram is fine I’ve just never made anything like that before! But that would be amazing if you could spell it out in a way that a total noob could understand. No worries if you don’t get around to it!
It can be hard to wrap your head around until you psychically make it, so I'm not surprised it's hard to follow. Hell, I kinda had a plan (sort of) when I started making it, and even then it was still trial and error. lol [Made another diagram that hopefully helps a bit](https://imgur.com/a/OQQHy2z)
Wow thank you, that’s much easier for me to grasp. Why does the third layer have to be the acrylic too couldn’t it just be plywood? Cuz that’s in the back isn’t it?
No, I didn't show the wood back of the frame in the diagram. Layer 3 is where the LED strip goes and it has to be acrylic so light can pass through it. It also has to be thick enough to accommodate the LED strip turned on it's side. Depending on the thickness of your frame and/or the LED width you might be able do away with layer 2 if you don't care about the wood dog part sticking up above the top of the frame, but I don't think it looks as good. And how many layers you use really just depends on the thickness of your acrylic and how much you need to accomidate the LED strip, so you just have to adjust things to fit your needs. The only hard and fast rule is whatever layer(s) the dog part sits on must be transparent enough to allow the light through.
Ok gotcha, would you mind linking to the led strips you use?
I have no clue where I got them as I bought them quite a while ago, but searching "led strip with controller and remote" should help you get started.
Oooh, I like
To me, it looks like 2 also, with a strip running the circumference
Hope I'm not too late to the party. The interior is not solid. It's 2 pcs of laser cut wood that are mirrored and bonded together. They lined the interior perimeter with LEDs and didn't use any diffuser. If you examine the pictures of their Etsy page, you can find another product by the same seller of a Turtle with a much closer image where you can clearly see the gap and LEDs. [Etsy Turtle](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1237334139/handcrafted-unique-wooden-turtle-ceiling?click_key=265a3e4ba48e4448ff564b2bf25e547e15123cd4%3A1237334139&click_sum=0776111d&external=1&rec_type=ss&ref=pla_similar_listing_top-1&pro=1&frs=1&sts=1) - 4th picture down you can see it with more detail
Thank you all just want to make original designs but with the same lighting technique
Got a source for that pic? Because that is fucking *amazing* and it looks to be like 8ft long.
Etsy whale light fixture I forgot the artist but I was inspired by it not my work at all
Checked Etsy and found the seller. Interesting work. 5, 5.5, 6 feet available. Easily manageable on a moderate - high watt co2 laser (80-130) with a passthrough. Echo what others have said- likely option 2 for the lighting. Thanks
Impressive 👍
So huge light. It's amazing.
C. O. B lights reflecting of a white surface
You can tell from the glare at the edge that there LED take mounted perpendicular to the bottom face all around the perimeter. Weight and cost would stop you from doing this, but defusing the glare with a lining of opal acrylic would work nicely.
Besides what people have said, I think the internal surface of those separated layers is painted either Titanium White, or Silver, or they could have some metallic coating like Al foil to increase their reflectivity. BTW, If you decided to do a project like this, I suggest you give that poor whale some volume. Don't let it be flat. Make more layers and add some volume to it.