Stained glass is a big deal in these parts, especially the linear-prairie school of design type of stuff. It’s gorgeous. It’s expensive. It’s not-at-all weather proof, and sort of a pain to keep up. And yet, everyone loves it. Including me. So when I saw the ladies at A Beautiful Mess make a faux stained glass panel a few months back, I took note. And then my friend Kiki, who hates crafts in general, also took note of the project as something she might like for her kitchen, I said WE ARE DOING THIS. And here we are!
This all came about because she wanted to avoid fabric curtains in the kitchen, and I have to say, it does a decent job of providing privacy without blocking light. And the whole thing cost less than $20 to make. Can’t beat that.
I would encourage you to visit the original tutorial over at A Beautiful Mess for their materials and instructions, but, I will share a few pointers I picked up along the way…
*The Frame. This project will look far more custom if we had painted the actual glass in the window, or had a custom glass panel cut to size, but we were doing this for cheap and a 24″x36″ picture frame worked just fine.
*The Adhesive Strips. This is my first time working with adhesive lead strips, and even though the box says you can curve them and make shapes, I did not find them very flexible. At all. This grid pattern is a keeper.
*The Paint. In my mind, when I read the term “glass paint” I assumed it would dry like glass. Like, somehow slow-drying and self leveling. This was not the case. At all. It dries very streaky. Kiki doesn’t mind that, and I think it gives the piece some character, but it’s far from the “faux glass” look promised on the bottle. Infact, if you are doing this project on something unprecious like a frame, I would just stick to regular acrylic paints. Maybe mix in some matte medium gel to make it less opaque, but don’t waste your money on some fancy glass stuff. And, if you want it to dry with less streaks, slightly touch the wet paint with a wet sponge to give it that mottled look. Or do two thin coats. Either way, it’s not going to look like genuine glass close up, but, the overall effect is majorly nifty.
Quick. Inexpensive. And not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
I always wanted to do a window like that, but now we live in a house where we have no need for that… Which is both a good and a bad thing, as I love decorating windows in that manner! Used to paint my aunts windows when I was a teenager, when I was bored. 🙂
Thought you might be amused with another Swedish custom – the midsummer pole. It is not as fancy as the Christmas Tree or the Easter Påskris, but it is a fun part of midsummer’s and it is just too funny to see the real deal which is a huge communal pole (many meters high) that takes many strong men to raise, and then all the grown ups and all the kids dance around the pole and play that they are frogs,.among other things! 😀 Here’s my little version of it http://www.familjenbahne.com/?p=22337 And we usually dance around our pole in the yard, but this year we’ll probably have rain so we’ll do more eating and less dancing.
Happy Midsummer’s to you!
VERY COOL. I have seen plenty of Maypoles, but Midsummer poles are all new to me. ANy excuse to bust out some ribbon, right? So cool. Thanks for showing me!!!
That is fabulous! i wish now, that I had some windows I could use for this project:)
this project could be used in a frame for wall art, above the couch or in the bedroom above the bed and with twinkle lights behind it….it would look like day light coming through from the outside…..fake window….so to speak…..
Nice project I may be trying this one thanks
My hubby and I have a couple windows that face the sun, ALL DAY, we love the natural light but the natural HEAT is a different story! This might help with keeping the light in & the heat out! I gotta try this out! 🙂
Thank you for sharing! I’ve been looking for a stained glass craft to do with my mom for a while now. She used to do real stained glass projects and I think she misses it. 😀
And now because of your table cloth I want to paint ferns in the glass. XD