This was an example of a piece I found on the internet. I thought it looked really nice backlit by the sun and sitting on the beach.
I first made a mold out of styrofoam for the back side and lined it with petroleum jelly so nothing would stick. Then I cut the glass to fit the center of the question mark. I separated the pieces with leading and then set them all aside. I also bent rebar and added chicken wire for strength to place in the concrete.
My basic starting point was to find a font with a nice rounded "?". I enlarged this in Paint Shop Pro and overlaid a grid where each small square represented one inch.
The color scheme I decided on was ROYGBIV or Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. In a couple of cases I had to lighten the colors a bit so light would shine through easily. I also made a couple of cardboard templates for building my mold for the top and bottom of the finished piece. Additionally, I made a small 6-inch grid showing the 1-inch markings for more precise control.
I created the mold out of two one-inch thicknesses of styrofoam taped together. I also re-drew the 6-inch grid over the styrofoam so I could tell where I needed to construct the mold.
Once the mold was completed, I cut the stained glass pieces. In the "?" above, if you look closely, you can see my markings of how I wanted the glass to be cut. I cut it wider than the mold so the edges would fit into the concrete molding once it was placed. I also bent some to place in part of the concrete for extra strength and added a few pieces of chicken wire for a bit more. Also, I cut two pieces of quarter-inch PVC pipe to lay into the botton straight parts of the question mark. They stick out the bottom and will be the way I mount the finished piece in the ground.
Finally, I was ready to place the concrete. I first filled up the mold so it was level with the uncut layer of the styrofoam. Then I placed the cut pieces of glass in place and separated them with stained glass leading.It didn't take any soldering since it would all be held in place by the concrete. Next I added in the rebar, chicken wire, and PVC pipe. Finally, I added the top layer of concrete to match the top cardboard mold.
I built all of this in my basement because it was cold outside so the concrete had to be made in small batches, but the work had to be done quickly so it didn't start setting too much between steps. By the time this was completed, it was pretty heavy, so I needed help hauling it out of the basement for its final destination.
The "42" in the center is because that is the answer to all questions about life, the universe, and everything (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).
It looked pretty cool when backlit by the sun in the morning, even without a beach in the background. Unfortunately, I later added a shed in this location so it no longer has the sun at it's back in the current home. Bummer!
I later had to have some work down on my irrigation system so had to take it down again. I laid it down and for some reason, one of the workers walked on it and broke some of the outside form and inside glass. Bummer Again! I put it back up but with the breaks and cracks, it never looke good again, so it ended up in the trash. Sigh.
