Went to a glass and mirror shop here in San Diego to locate the lantern glass. The plans called it 'cord glass'. The guy looked at the plan photo and called it 'spectrum cord glass'. Told him I needed 4" x 60" for the project. He told me it only comes in full sheets from the manufacturer. The bad news....a full sheet is 60" x 84" (5' x 7') and costs
$296.77.

The good news.......they had just completed work on someones yacht using the same material and had a partial 30" x 72" sheet left over in his inventory. From that, he said he'd sell me just what I needed at 6 cents per square inch. This works out to about $15 for my 4" x 60" strip. They would cut the strip into the 12 sized pieces for another $15. I'll cut it myself and pocket the money.
The copper shim stock for the motifs runs about $20 +tax and shipping if I have to get it from McMaster-Carr. Smallest piece they have is 6" x 25" which is way too much. I'll have to check at the local hobby shops for something more reasonable.
For the mahogany, plan calls for 21' of 1/2" x 1/4" planed. Good news....GOT IT, courtesy
mrcabinetmakers scrap pile. Problem...it's a block of 8" x 3-1/2" x 3/4". It will have to be resawn and planed. I'll have to see if I can negotiate some kind of labor deal with
SDSSmith.
Thanks all for the options both with and around the dado blade. I have to digest them all. Lots of posts and I really appreciate it. I am leaning toward the router method since I already own one ($8 used) and have yet tried it out. This will be the most cost effective way.