almost done

I made it to Lowe's Saturday and came back with a piece of plywood, an assortment of adhesives, flat clear coat for the aluminum (it doesn't rust or tarnish but it does degrade over time), and what they call 'french cleats' in the picture hanging section. Not sure I want to use them as the shape is a little weird so I'll probably go to the frame shop here on Monday and get some of the heavy duty Z-bar she uses which is what I've been using to hang my work. All unused items will be returned to Lowe's. I'm glad I didn't leave any later to head out because as I encountered one short slow down from the continuing construction between here and Rosenberg, on the way back I saw that it was now backed up really far and glad I wasn't stuck in it.

And the first trumpet flower piece went in the kiln Saturday. It will be 5 days before I get a peek at how it turned out.

So Sunday, I tested out the flat clear coat on the small sample of aluminum the guy at the metal shop gave me and I didn't care for it. Definitely like the shine on the aluminum even though only about a half inch all the way around will show so back to the store for some gloss clear coat and test that out. I cut and sanded two pieces of 1/4” plywood to go between the glass and the aluminum to 'float' the glass above the metal and two larger pieces for the back of the aluminum that the hanger will be fastened to but after stacking everything up, I think I like the glass panels directly on the metal instead of floating above it. So then I used the manual flat lap to rough up the backs of the two glass panels and flatten them as they aren't perfectly flat on the back (they're better but they still need some more work). Then I decided which adhesive I'll use, the super industrial strength Loctite which specifically mentions glass, wood, and metal. I also carefully opened the package of one of the 'french cleats' from the picture hanging department and while it says it supports up to 75 pounds I didn't care for the design which sticks out from the wall farther and the top piece only sits about 1/4” deep in the bottom channel. So Monday I'll head over to the frame shop here and get Margaret to cut me 4 six inch lengths of the Z-bar.

french cleat or 'z-bar', bottom piece goes on the wall, top piece goes on the panel

Today I plan to get the clear coat and test it and then coat the metal and finish lapping the panels.

Hopefully Tuesday I'll glue it all together and attach the hanger (with glue and screws) on Wednesday, give it a week to cure, then box it up and ship it out.

This week we will be having our hottest temps yet, maybe even break into triple digits. Still not a single flower on my morning glory vines but I'm not the only one! A FB group about Texas flora had a post about theirs not blooming either and so many replied with the same thing. The general consensus was that all the rain washed away whatever minerals they need to bloom. This little succulent is blooming though.