Sparkling inlays in floors

[Tom Polacek]

Greetings,

Anybody got an idea of something I could inlay into a floor to catch the light and give the impression of twinkling stars?

Thanks

Tom

[Dan Hintz]

First thing that comes to mind is a small glass piece backed by one of those silver holographic-style wrapping paper or kid's notebook paper cover.

[Jamie Buxton]

How 'bout actual twinkling lights? You've got 3/4" of thickness. LEDs nowadays are bright, thin, and extremely long-lived.

[Van Huskey]

One of the granites or quartz products?

[Thom Porterfield]

The twinkling effect can be electro-mechanical as with LED lights, or passive as with some kind of reflective material. The glint of iron pyrite (fools gold) is due to small randomly oriented flakes of mica. Some granites have similar internal reflective properties, as Van suggests. Metal flake automotive paint has very tiny particles of aluminum that do the same thing. Regardless, the effect is best when the particles are oriented in a random manner, so that as the observer moves by, there are constantly changing reflections. The suggestion Don makes isn't bad, especially when you think of an inlaid floor. You might try a piece of glass over bits of crinkled up aluminized Mylar, such as is used in party balloons. Or, even more simply, try bits of mirror. Depending on where the observer is, small pieces of mirror will reflect room lights randomly.

Whatever you come up with, I'd like to see the end result. Good luck!

[Eric DeSilva]

Wiring an LED into your floor seems... short lived, even if battery life is long. I might experiment with something acrylic or dichoic with real light "piped in" via fiber optic cables. The cables could be laid flat under the floor and routed to a central point and illuminated.

Do you have access under the floor? If so, you could just do the reverse of this: http://www.mavromatic.com/2006/06/diy-fiber-optic-star-ceiling/

[Tom Polacek]

I have access under the floor now, by removing the subfloor, but once I get the finish floor down, I won't. I'm leary of introducing something that will need maintenance.

I'm especially intrigued by the crinkled up aluminized mylar idea. I suppose you would seal that in under a clear epoxy. I wonder if that would tend to get scratched up and you would lose some of the luster.

Thanks much for your replies.

[Alan Schaffter]

The least permanent is pieces of reflective or prismatic material added to the floor finish- the entire area or taped patterns. Go over the entire floor with a couple of additional coats of clear to hide any unevenness from the tape lines.

Go to you local automotive paint store (custom paint shop) and see what they have. I've seen plenty of cars with glitter in the clear coat. You could do the same with your floor. Later, if you no longer like it, sand it off and refinish.

[Pat Barry]

Possibly synthetic industrial diamonds? They come in various sizes (sand like). You would need to imbed them in a resin of some type. They will twinkle.

[Dan Hintz]

Hmmmm, I always thought industrial diamonds were pretty dirty, not like the twinkly stuff shown on fingers.

[Ryan Hellmer]

I like the notion of automotive paint additives. Not only could you get a metal flake, but pearl and other effects could also be added to a clear coat. With creative masking, it could be fun.

What is this project exactly? I'm seing the entry way of a restaurant or space museum.

Ryan

[Tom Polacek]

It is a stair landing. The stair turns 90 degrees at the landing. I plan on laying down an Oak perimeter, then a mahogany "sun" in the corner, with maple rays, bordered with a thin black banding, that sweep around the corner. In the maple rays, I was planning on inlaying some dark green stone chip inlace lines that terminate away from the "sun" in some sort of reflective diamond that would catch the light as you move around the corner.

[Dave Lash]

I recalled seeing a reference to an inlay material in a recent post, a google search lead to this. I have never used any of this type of material, but it may be what you are looking for.

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/Decorative_Materials___Inlay_Materials?Args=

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/Decorative_Materials___Inserts___Swarovski__Crysta ls___swarovski?Args=

[Kevin Jenness]

Mother of pearl dots might work for you, available in various sizes from Rescue Pearl and Stewart McDonald among others. Thin strips are also available if you want to add some rays. Typically .050" or .060" thickness, so won't take heavy sanding.