The MCR Project

The MCR Project was made specifically for the Mesch Clark Rothschild law firm in appreciation for all the ways the firm has provided for our family during more than three decades of my wife's employment with the firm. The project is made from a single piece of solid hickory with a bloodwood inlay showing the MCR logo. Over 2100 LEDs illuminate the front of this piece that measures about 24-inches long by 9-inches high and 2-inches thick.

LED light presents in the logo area using a similar color algorithm used in the Nightstand series clocks with three imaginary paintbrushes sweeping across the logo with slow and random curved strokes blending the brush colors with the pre-existing colors. A comet of slowly changing color continuously circles around the logo about once every eight seconds. The core values occasionally illuminate when the comet head sweeps beneath them. This event causes the core value word to light up in a random color, then slowly fade to off until they are once again randomly illuminated.

A close up of the bloodwood logo inlay pictured below shows the logo, lettering, and comet trail all captured in a bed of cured translucent material before the optical diffuser is installed. All of the inlays at this point are 0.1-inches deep with straight-wall cuts. The entire face is smooth and flat.

Like so many other things that I build, this project was made as a gift. It was a background project that lasted about eight-months. Part of why I made it was to refine my own processes in its construction, find better ways to diffuse LED light, and to develop a library of software that I can use in many of my future projects. Mission accomplished!