Read Part 1 and Part 2 of this incredible story.

I will say that this sculpture was one of the most intense things I have even done with the emotionality of what was going on. The whole piece was a giant act of grieving and processing trauma.

I will also say that their beautiful baby girl is just fine. It took about three months, but she came off her final dose of medication the night I delivered this piece to them. It was pretty magical to have been so linked in with the story, as hard as it was.

I would like to finish showing the process of how the piece was made because it was my own little technological marvel. Most of these techniques I made up specifically for this piece, and I will probably use a lot more of them in the future.

 The image of the couple was printed on large scale blacklight film and cut to shape.

 Making sure it fit the stain glass correctly it then got adhered face down onto the large sheet of glass.

The stained glass then got siliconed face down on the glass according to the template.

 Gold leaf was added to all of the negative space that I wanted to appear opaque in the final ligthbox.

 This is itself was a fussy mess. The gold didn't want to adhere evenly and it ended up taking several layers and finally two coats of opaque paint on the back to make sure the light wouldn't penetrate.

 After the baby got out of the hospital the couple brought me all the biological samples and hospital objects that the hospital had allowed them to keep from here extensive stay there. Her umbilical cord went directly in the centre of the piece adhered to the crystal in the centre of the stained glass.

 The initial layer complete, I began lighting testing and work on the lower layer.

 The same image was adhered to a piece of plywood, so that when you looked through the open pieces it would still be the same portrait.

 Hospital objects and crystals were laid in patterns adhered to the back of the wood.

 The two pieces mimic each other, but with the under-layer having a substantially darker undertone.

Lighting gets wired into the light box.

The two pieces get overlaid and the board gets screwed into the back of the piece. 

The stain glass lights up for the very first time!

Final touches are added. Copper foil details get added to the front of the glass. Their wedding vows are wood burnt into the frame. Extra gold leaf is added. The whole front is lacquered. 

 The whole family's hospital bracelets are framed and added to the face of the piece.

After three month of excruciating labour, the artwork is complete.  

 It gets wrapped up to deliver to the family.

 With how big it is, we cannot close the van door during transport, which is terrifying.

 At the end of the day though, everything is safe and sound. Family, baby, and artwork. The epic journey has come to an end. By far one of the most difficult things I have ever made in my entire life.

Photos of the finished product to come soon!