Courage to do my first litho

[Bob Victor]

After several weeks of reading all I could find on the Forum, I decided to grab the chicken by the neck and do it. To my surprise it came out good. I still have some tweeking to do, but I'm pleased. It was a litho of our two dogs, Sophie and Butter. Sophie on the left, passed away last Thanksgiving after giving us 13 years of happiness.

I'm a little unhappy with the lighting, I use a puck light from Lowe's. In researching lighting options by other users, LED's seem to be the best option. For brightness and low heat. I've looked at LED's available on reels. But I would have to buy separate power source for each strip I would cut off. Correct? Open to any other alternative for lighting source.

[dbemus]

Bob

Nice work for your first litho! I am sure you will treasure this for years to come.

Experts on the forum will give great advice on lighting .

[Dale]

You only need one power supply. I use a strip of LEDs on two sides of the box and solder jumper wires between the two strips. You could actually put strips on all four sides of the box if you want. I use a 5x7 box and find it is plenty bright with just strips on two sides. Nice looking litho.

[rcdages]

Litho looks very good.

[CW-HAL9000]

You are correct, one power supply per project with LED. I have wanted to do LED's but to me the cost is still high. I use 20 string Christmas mini lights. I use a 5x7 shadow box from hobby lobby or Michaels and I also buy the lights at Hobby Lobby for $1.99 a set. I put the litho in place with hot melt glue where the glass was. I cut a 5x7 piece of 1/8 inch Masonite and drill 20 holes evenly across the board. I hot melt a piece of aluminum foil onto the Masonite on the side that will face the litho. I then put the lights into the holes and glue them in place with a hot melt glue gun. Cut a small hole for the cord to run through the back and its all set. I get the shadow boxes when they are on sale so many times for less than $5.00 each. so the shadow box, lights, foil, Masonite all cost less than $10.00 with the corian I usually spend less than $20.00 and I sell them for $40. for family I charge $25 and still make a little. This was all not my idea, someone on the forum posted this a few years ago and I tried it and have used it ever since. Can't beat the simplicity and cost. They do not get too hot and changing bulbs or the whole set of lights is easy. I did try LED Christmas lights once and they did not give off a good even light as well as the original Christmas lights. Its also harder to find them in small strings for a good cost. This year I want to keep an eye on after Christmas clearance sales. Here are some quick pics I just took with my phone so they are not that good.

Edit: I also tried a puck light and did not like the unevenness of the light, my picture shows a lot of glare that is really not there when you see it in person but this method provides a good even amount of light.

[mtylerfl]

After several weeks of reading all I could find on the Forum, I decided to grab the chicken by the neck and do it. To my surprise it came out good. I still have some tweeking to do, but I'm pleased. It was a litho of our two dogs, Sophie and Butter. Sophie on the left, passed away last Thanksgiving after giving us 13 years of happiness.

I'm a little unhappy with the lighting, I use a puck light from Lowe's. In researching lighting options by other users, LED's seem to be the best option. For brightness and low heat. I've looked at LED's available on reels. But I would have to buy separate power source for each strip I would cut off. Correct? Open to any other alternative for lighting source.

Bob,

Good lithophane for your first one. One thing to check...did you specify the photo to have Bit Optimization: BEST ? As I look at the photo it seems slightly "blurry". If Bit Optimization is left at NONE, the picture won't be as sharp (in focus) as it could be. (other factors can make a photo lose some focus too, such as low resolution and/or enlarging too much, but "Bit Optimization: BEST" is the main factor that is most often missed by users)

[Bob Victor]

You know my wife actually suggested using the mini christmas lights. I will definitely give it a try. Guess after 44 years of marriage, I should know to say "Yes Dear". Thanks for the information.

[CW-HAL9000]

You know my wife actually suggested using the mini christmas lights. I will definitely give it a try. Guess after 44 years of marriage, I should know to say "Yes Dear". Thanks for the information.

Your welcome, let us know how it turns out.

[NLAlston]

Replying to this to lock it in. Good info.

[zan29]

You did good Bob so keep on going!