Yep, not a minor upgrade, but something to "polish" in the future.
My first prototype and V1.0 are posted with most of the details, but some improvements are specified here.
This image is the same Monarch I used for a previous box lid. The spousal unit said V1.0 needed something to see during the day versus the black surrounding the tree. Usually I'll disagree and this time I decided to add something to see during the day ðŸ¤
Cherry frame, 5" x 7" display area.
First change was to change the "stack" from a mirror and cover glass and replace the mirror with more glass.
I covered it with light blocking contact paper (black) and just laser etched the image through that. The result was frosted "clear" glass for the various former bugs bits. Then I added some white contact paper to the face side and cut out the outline. This makes the facing side have a white face which I then placed a photo (dewy grass) on transparency film with the transparency cut away over the butterfly. The white background means the grass will show up, much like a framed photo, during the day. Next time I'll just print directly onto a white shipping label.
What you see is the butterfly being back lit during the day. This will change as the LED light source changes making it look like someone is messing with your mind. I used yellow TransTint on the frosted glass spots with some red added toward the wingtips (no dye on the small perimeter spots). This allows the single-color LED light to appear as different colors. In the photo above, the LED light is white.
Since I used just glass, I needed to keep the LED light from entering the glass edge. Placing the glass stack into a groove fixed that.
I also used a piece of leftover aluminum solarTube skylight (very reflective) mounted at a shallow angle to direct and disperse the upward LED light forward. The groove at the back is for a solid wood backer as with the previous versions.
This is how the colors shift when the LEDs produce red.
When they produce blue, the butterfly really changes.
Thanks fellas! Best feature is when the light is "on" during the day. As with the photos, that's what one sees. At night the grass is of course not visible, just a thinly outlined butterfly which color shifts.
Having it look good during the day is a great enhancement. I like the background image too—more interesting than a plain background, but interesting enough in a subtle way to enhance the subject.
