My glassworking teacher made a big marble and asked me to create a lighted stand for it
Cutting the pocket for the LED ring. An O-ring groove is also cut. The O-ring will hold the marble in place and provide a decorative border after the piece is finished
The rough cut for the outer conical ring. Looks like the bit needs sharpening
The finish cut smooths it out nicely
Rough cut for the marble pocket
And the finish with wire channel
Epoxy the LED light ring in place, check the fit with the marble
Glue the blanks together
The center point of the pattern is not the center of the blank
Turning an off-center piece with a big hole requires care and a delicate touch
Roughly rounded
Finished turning. It can't be sanded on the lathe because of the big hole, so much hand sanding follows
After sanding and first coat of oil and varnish
Gluing up the segmented base
Cutting the design on the CNC
And the wire channel
Last coat of finish
The finished piece. The marble is inserted, and held in place with an O-ring
The LEDs have a bit different color temperature than the studio light, so the marble looks blue
This is what it looks like after color-correction