small animal hospital at Texas A&M

The installation for the A&M panels was Friday and it went without a hitch. I don't know why I was worried because these guys always do an excellent job.

It was impossible to get good pictures of the individual panels. The sun was so bright and completely washed out the images in the photos. This was the best one I got.

Unfortunately, it didn't go without a glitch. Turns out in one of the panels up near the top in the clear area is a flaw in the plastic interlayer of the laminated glass that escaped detection and if I had just placed the pattern on the glass differently it would have been covered up by the etching. It's not very big, maybe 1/2” x 3/8”, but in certain lighting conditions it is visible and looks like a smudge. And of course, the owner of the art consulting company was there to oversee the installation and so she is aware of it and says it could be a real problem. FUCK. Fuck fuck fuck.

I don't want any problems. I just want to get paid and be done. We're supposed to confab about it later today to see what, if anything, should be done about it. Personally, I'd rather just let it be. People aren't going to be looking that high up, they are going to be looking at the etching and they are going to get dirty so it won't be the only smudge. The staff was already wondering if they were going to be responsible for cleaning the glass or if maintenance was. I've thought of a way to disguise it using the cream etch but worst case scenario is they are going to want us to replace it. At this point that's the last thing I want to do and not just because of the expense.

And if that wasn't enough to ruin my day, plus the fact that, let's face it, once installed and the protective film removed, these panels weren't our best work, yes I know I'm my own worst critic and yes we were asked to reproduce photos instead of letting me design the panels and yes we were working under conditions where we didn't have the control we usually do but that doesn't make me feel any better about the end result, as if all that wasn't enough, I missed one of my turns on the way home and ended up about 24 miles in the wrong direction before I figured it out and had to backtrack adding another 45 minutes to an already 2 hour drive.

I managed to put it all out of my mind over the weekend but now I'm here waiting to hear from the art consultant. This is why I don't want to do etched glass anymore. I'm tired of the problems and this job has been nothing but problems from the beginning.