Stained Glass Terrarium- Final Report Pt. 1

For my final project, I am focusing loosely on the reminiscence theme. Since a lot of my childhood is surrounded by stained glass, I wanted to do something with stained glass and/or have the stained glass look.

I am making a glass terrarium. I want to use mixed materials like glass, and wood to make sure the terrarium is leak proof and has some stability especially at the bottom. I think it’d be a nice look as well to have glass and a darker wood to compliment each other.

My design functionalities are:

• Creating the over structure:
  • Using a wood base and wood sides to create a general stable structure for the terrarium.
  • Have glass panes on the sides of the box to cover all the sides except the front facing one.
• Making of the stained glass look:
  • After assembling the glass to the structure, I used stained glass paint to make a cool design to the terrarium.
• Moving part
  • I want to add a door to the open section with hinges so it can open/close

Progress

Starting off with my plans, I made a 3D model of how I wanted my structure to look like:

Figure 1: 3D Models

Figure 2: 3D Models pt. 2

In Figures 1 and 2, I planned out how I want my terrarium structure to look. I did a more simple design to add decals to the other sections of the project.

Metrics:

Frame: 4.5in x 6in

Roof: 4.5in x 2in

Door: TBD

Here are the materials I bought (Figure 3):

• Wood sticks
• Glass paint
• Glass
• Glue

Figure 3: Materials

After measuring and understanding the frame and sizing of my project, I went to the wood shop to cut up the wood pieces into the right sizes. I then went to McGuckin’s and cut up the glass to the sizing of the structure. At first, I planned to find glass pieces to build my frame around it, but I decided it would be easier to plan out my design for more flexibility. I used glass paint to paint designs on the glass. I freehanded the pattern, Figure 4 shows how it looks wet.

Figure 4: Glass Paint                                                               Figure 5: Wood Progress

 

Figure 6: Assembling                                                                      Figure 7: Assembling pt.2

After attaching the wood pieces with wood glue, the structure was looking pretty solid. I then fit the glass pieces into the frames, some parts of it like Figure 7 had a few gaps because of how the wood fit together. I am not very satisfied with it, but it is a terrarium so there is room for space because air should be able to enter the model.

 

Figure 8: Structure                                                                         Figure 9: Structure pt. 2

Here is the structure in progress in Figures 8 and 9. I like that I left out the hollows in the top roof section so there is air for the plant to live inside.

Future Plans

In this next week, I plan to get a bottom wood plank to attach to the bottom of the frame. I also plan to make wooden doors. I decided to make it out of wood instead of glass to switch up the textures a bit. There is a possibility that I want to stain/paint the wood. I can’t wait to see everything come together.