About Wholeo, Hi-Res Graphics Path
Wholeo, the name of the dome and all the images are Copyright Caroling 1974
Background Information
Despite its unfamiliar first impression, Wholeo is an outgrowth of traditional medieval craft. I cut hand-blown antique stained glass to make a design.
I sometimes etched the glass in acid or painted, stained, and fired it in a kiln to provide detail on each piece.
I fit the glass pieces together with lead came surrounding their edges.
A few panels are wrapped in copper foil in the Tiffany-lamp style.
The joints and copper-wire ties
are soldered with tin. Then putty is forced under the lead to strengthen the panel and waterproof it.
Sometimes the glass is overlapped or layered.
The semi-rigid panels are attached to a metal framework that holds them in place.
For Wholeo, the framework is a dome and the glass panels are tied to it with copper wires.
The glass panels themselves are fit together into a larger shape, a hemisphere, with wide lead between them.
The individual pieces of glass are flat. Because each panel is built on a curved table, the panels conform to the surface of a 7' radius hemisphere.
Here's Wholeo from the North, as I was installing it in the country. The leaded glass panels on the South side are up. The other half of the panels are not yet installed, so you can see the geodesic dome
framework that holds Wholeo up.
The dome struts are made of 1/2" diameter aluminum tubes, TS 6061. The aluminum tubes are flattened and drilled at each end, so they can be bolted together at the vertices of a 6-frequency hemisphere. That means that there are six steps between each of the 5-strut vertices of the underlying icosahedron.
Questions and Answers
- Did you make this yourself?
Yes.
- How much did it cost?
$2,000 in materials, including $650 for sheets of glass. These costs would be much higher today.
- How long did it take to make?
Seven years. That included paintings and drawings to develop the images,
plus models and framing experiments to develop the structure.
Also, there were about six moves, from San Francisco, through NY and Berkeley to its completion in Sonoma county, California.
- How do you pronounce Wholeo?
Who Leo? Whol Eo? Whole O?
Use 'Who Leo' when you are wondering about Leo.
'Whol Eo'
is it. Or rather, 'Whol'eo.' Kind of like rodeo (ro'de-o), radio, or holy O.
'Whole O'
was the idea behind it. Wholeo is the search for the whole O.
But it's not easily pronounced.
- How did you learn to work with stained glass?
After receiving my Master of Fine Arts degree, I became an artist in a commercial stained glass studio. Gradually I became interested in the craft of making the windows myself. I learned from craftspeople in Minneapolis, New York, and Pasedena where I was employed.
- What kind of platform held Wholeo when it was up for six years?
15 posts were sunk into the ground, sticking up 2' from the surface.
They formed a 14' diameter circle.
Lying on top of the posts, 2"x4" boards formed a continuous base where Wholeo could rest.
Each 2"x4" was 2.9' long. This raised Wholeo up two feet, so it was 9' from the ground in the center of the dome.
- How many pieces of glass are there in Wholeo?
Less than the number of grains of sand at the beach.
- How did you design Wholeo?
I designed the overall concept first. Each panel was more or less spontaneous, depending on the vision it needed to convey. However, I kept creativity open to the very end. Otherwise, it could have become quite tedious. Perhaps that encouraged excitement, variety, and high energy in each part of the images.
- Where did you get the geodesic architecture?
My source book, Domebook II (published in 1971 by Pacific Domes)
listed 12 chord factors for the struts. I multiplied a
chord factor by the radius of the dome to get the length for each type of strut.
As I was putting the struts together, I found that the surface approximated
a curve more evenly
if I switched two strut types. I don't know if the math error
was mine or the domebook's.
Fan email and Comments
Here are some comments on these pages sent by visitors. The most recent
comments come first. Names are withheld to protect the senders.
Thank you so much for sharing such beauty and inspiration
with so many. It breaks my heart to think that such a
thing of wonder and light is dismantled and closeted away.
Perhaps through your sharing, this will change....I
sincerly hope so! The world needs such new insights and
joyous experiences.
The writing really enhances the experience of
viewing the panels. I literally see much
more. The panels that seem random
initially, give way to insight into a
deeper vision. Thanks for the view!
Essence of being is extraordinary. I love the radiating red.
All in all extraordinary!
I was just looking at your Wholeo page. Looks like you put an incredible
amount of energy into it. I hope you find another location for it.
Hi again. Your web site is a pleasure to view and is now linked on my art
resources page. I hope it helps to bring you well deserved attention.
The Wholeo work is amazing and beautiful. Nice job and an interesting
story. Enjoyed the visit and will return again.
Best to you,
Ted Warnell
ted.warnell@bbs.logicnet.com ~ http://www.logicnet.com/ted.warnell/
a R o o m w i t h o u t W a l l s
Your Wholeo certainly touched my whole self! i'm hoping this year
to have the time to explore and put many more of my searchings
on line. Carol, what an amazing, beautiful surprise! i visited
your HomePage today (i'm new on the Internet and am
exploring). Your creation is very special. Does it
still exist? Thank you for your vision and work.
Walk in Peace
AAAMMMMAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZZZZIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!!!
This page last modified: Sat Mar 30 1996
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