Stained Glass Windows

Light, streaming through the window, alive with dazzling color. It casts a spell of lazy contentedness on all that stop to marvel in its simple majesty.

I have always loved stained glass windows. There is just something so breathtaking about the way that light is transformed when it flows through the colorful panes. For some reason, I have had them on my mind a lot these past couple of days. Maybe the cold weather is reminding me of the warmth and wonder I feel when I see them.

I wish I knew how to make my own windows. For the time being though, I have to settle for using old picture frames and repurposed windows that I pick up on the side of the road…

The picture below is a window inspired by stained glass. I made it using acrylic and Elmer’s glue. The black outline was created using a mixture of the glue and black paint that I applied using the glue bottle. Once the outline had finished drying, I filled in the empty space with the color. While this doesn’t have the same translucent properties as typical stained glass, I still really love this piece.

A little more recently, I created another piece, with this one being much more like traditional stained glass. I used an old picture frame I bought at a thrift store and some india ink. I outlined this one with a dry-erase marker, then painted on the glass with the ink. I was pleased to see that this one did act the same way as stained glass in that it turned the light reflected through it a different color. I was so happy with this technique that I even used it on one of the windows in my home! That one was a little trickier because the ink would sometimes collect in little pools and create streaks of color since it was a vertical surface…

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Someday, I hope to make real stained glass. I’ll buy the most dazzling sheets of glass I can find and construct beautiful works of art. While the current method I use is a lot cheaper and is still a lot of fun, it just isn’t the same! Oh well, I guess I can keep dreaming…

How about you? What projects are you dreaming of?

Artfully yours,

Cassie 🙂