Glass Hand

Susan's advice is bang on. One thing to keep in mind is that we should be able to see *through* the glass. Thus, some of the background in areas without highlights - such as through the thicker parts of the hand and forearm - should be visible but modified by the surface and curvature of the front and back surfaces. For example, here, relative to light coming from behind, the back of the forearm is convex in a cylindrical fashion while the front is concave in the same fashion. So start with the idea thst a forearm can be roughly represented as a smooth cylinder with the focal point of the curve situated halfway between the front and back surfaces. When this is the case, the light from objects or patterns behind the arm will first get vertically "squished" until it reaches the focal point and then it will leave the focal point vertically "flipped" and then "stretched" until it hits the inside of the front surface at its original height when the light rays are straightened out again. Thus what is behind now appears upside-down, as if in a mirror sitting on the "floor" facing upwards in front of it. Changing some of the initial assumptions changes the resulting view in different ways. If the focal point is assumed to be closer to the back surface then the image coming out will be stretched taller in the vertical direction. If closer to the front, squished down. If the surface of either side isn't smooth or the shape is not a perfect cylinder the image will be distorted unevenly in both the horizontal and vertical directions, resulting in ripples in the image of the background. It may be helpful to think about how fun house mirrors change the body's apparence - it's the same basic principle, only with reflected rather than converging and diverging light. Hope this is helpful. I can't wait to see your future "glass work"!

Jenni Merrifield

I’m a loyal patron. I start my day in the US with your latest post.

Consider the glass hand as only revealed by the light cast upon it. As the reflection of houses or trees on still water is only a reflection on top of the water. Or that clouds are only seen by the angle of the light. You’re doing great.