PG1: Faux Stainglass GlowLight

What you need:

A pattern printed or copied onto a piece of paper in the size you want your final artwork to be. Make TWO. One to use for tracing and one to go under the glass.

A piece of glass large enough to accomodate the entire pattern and then some.

2 tiles or plates of glass for baking on top of flat items and to use as a work surface.

A computer graphics program or coloring pencils or medium to color in the pattern with. Grab whatever's at hand. You'll be pretty much destroying the patterns as you go along.

Opaque clay for the "leading." I used black, you can use any color you want.

Translucent clay blended to match the colors you have on your patterns. I have 6 colors in the pattern used in this tutorial: 2 yellows, 2 greens, 1 red, and 1 blue. Take care not to blend the translucent with too much opaque clay or you will lose the translucency. Start with a small pinch at a time.

Lots of scrap clay for the body where the lights are stored.

1 blunt yet pointed tool for tracing (see Fig 1)

1 Exacto knife

Undiluted Transparent Liquid Sculpey

1 toothpick

1 pasta machine

Typing paper (maybe - I used it in this tutorial, you may not need it.)

Pencil with an eraser

Yarn (which is what I used), Fabric, cane slices, whatever you want to cover the outside of body where the lights are stored.

Cardboard

Scotch Tape & Packing tape

16 or 18 gauge wire (a coathanger works just fine)

1 string of 35 holiday lights

Corn Starch

Soft brush (optional, you can use your hands)

Your choice of texture sheet (optional, you can use anything for texturing)

1 extension cord

1. Find a pattern to meet your skill level. My skill level in stain glass is beginner, so I picked an uncomplicated pattern. The pattern I chose was in an Acrobat PDF file, so I converted it into a JPEG file by capturing it off my screen with Paint Shop Pro v6.0 and colored there. Then I printed out two copies of the pattern. 2. Next, I prepared translucent clay - one for each color used in the pattern - by blending a small pinch at a time of opaque clay into the translucent. After blending each pinch into the translucent, I squished it out kinda thin (uniform isn't necessary here) and held it up to the lamp to make sure it still let the light through. When I got it to the color I wanted, I ran my clay through the pasta machine on the medium thickness. I have a 9 setting Atlas with 1 being the thickest. I used setting #4. If your clays are too mushy, after you've run the clay through the pasta machine, sandwich the sheets between two sheets of typing paper for an hour or so. Lay the colored sheets on the tile you will use for the work surface and set it aside. This is where you will be tracing onto the clay and cutting it. 3. Throughout this entire lesson, all clay will be the same thickness unless stated otherwise. 4. I conditioned my opaque clay (I used black) for the leading and rolled it into a sheet on the medium setting. 5. I conditioned all my scrap clay and set it aside. 6. I found with this technique, it was easiest to start at the center and work out. It was also necessary to prebake some sections.
Fig 1	7. I placed the pattern on top of the clay color corresponding with the center or focus of the pattern. In this instance, the focus and the center is the rose. You will note in Fig 1 the clay extending from under the pattern matches the rose color. I burnished the paper briefly so it would adhere to the clay to prevent it from moving. Using a blunt yet pointed tool (Click on the thumbnail for a closer look at the tool), I traced around all the lines for everything using that particular color of clay. I pressed hard enough to make an impression in the clay below yet not hard enough to go through the paper. Each line would be traced over more than once before I was done!
Fig 2	8. When I had traced the outlines for that color clay, I removed the pattern. See Fig 2. (Click on the thumbnail for a closer look.)
Fig 3	9. Next I cut out the pattern along the trace lines so it cames apart like a jigsaw puzzle. I hung onto my scraps until I was finished in case I made a mistake and needed to start over. It's also a good idea to hang onto the scraps if you don't have quite enough room on the sheet to trace all the elements of the design in that color. Then you simply moosh the scraps together, run them through the pasta machine on medium and trace the sections you still need to cut out. (Click on the thumbnail for a closer look.) I placed the jigsaw pieces onto my work surface/baking tile and place another tile on top of them to keep them flat. (My work surface and baking tile are one and the same.) I baked these pieces at the manufacturer recommended temperature for about 10 minutes. I'm not concerned with curing yet, just getting a firm clay.
Fig 4	10. After baking, I let the pieces cool on top of the stove with the tiles still sandwiched together. When they were cool to the touch, I reassembled the pieces into my design. I pulled my sheet of leading in front of me and placed a straight edge (here I used a ruler) onto it. I cut one side to get a perfectly straight edge to start with and set the scrap aside. I moved the ruler in just a fraction of an inch - about as wide as the clay is thick and cut a very thin, long strip. (Click on the thumbnail for a closer look.)
Fig 5	11. Now here's the tricky part. Pay attention to where the top and sides are of this very thin strip of clay. Since the entire design is rolled out to medium thickness, you want to place the strips around the pieces so the top of the strip remains facing UP. This way, the leading will always be the same thickness as the design. Start by completely outlining the centermost piece. (See Fig 4) Then attach each piece from there, outlining the sides that do not snug up to the previously laid leading. (Click on the thumbnails for a closer look.) I assembled just the center or focus of the design. Here I set aside the buds for later (See Fig 7). I placed the center piece onto my work surface/baking tile and placed another tile on top of it to keep it flat. I baked this piece at the manufacturer recommended temperature for about 10 minutes.
12. When you put the center or focus piece into the oven, you will have snugged all the pieces so they are together real tight! When you pull them out and it has cooled, hold it up to the light and you will see daylight and cracks and it will be rather flimsy. Don't panic. I put the center piece face DOWN onto my baking tile and poured a thick layer of undiluted Transparent Liquid Sculpey (TLS) onto the back and smeared it around so it was spread evenly. Then I turned the centerpiece back over and replaced it on the tile face UP. I baked withOUT the cover tile on top of it (so not to squish all the TLS out from under it) for about 8 minutes. After it cooled, I used a tissue blade to slice the center piece away from the tile. When it had cooled, I held it up to the light. The cracks were filled in and the center piece is now stronger!
Fig 6	13. I repeated steps 7-9 with the second area of the design. To pick out what that would be, remember we are working from the inside out. With this pattern, the next element is the leaves. I also chose the leaves because they are more intricate than the background pattern, so they would be easier to assemble if prebaked. I traced the second element out on the corresponding colors, cut and baked, again sandwiching the clay between tiles to keep it flat. Here my leaves are using two shades of green. (Click on the thumbnail for a closer look.) When the tiles cooled to the touch, I moved on to the next step.
Fig 7	14. Now I moved over to the clear glass surface where I had the pattern laid underneath as a template to work with. I placed the centerpiece and all the other baked pieces roughly into their corresponding places and set it all aside. (Click on the thumbnail for a closer look.)
Fig 8	*15. At this point, I traced and cut out the remaining elements of the design (see Fig 8). I followed the steps 7-9, but I did not* prebake these! (**Click on the thumbnail for a closer look.)
Fig 9	16. Going back to the glass surface with the loosely assembled pattern, I assembled the remaining elements working from the inside out, placing the leading between each piece as I went along. I did not lay any double thicknesses of the leading, so it was necessary to refrain from outlining all the pieces first and assembling later! However, you may like that method and look, so please feel free to do so! (Click on the thumbnail for a closer look.) When I had all the pieces assembled, I went back around and worked them together so there is no daylight or cracks. I did this by holding the glass with the design on it over my head and up to a light. I added clay or worked with fingers and tools to get all the cracks covered up and all the pieces tightly put together.

How I Made A Faux Stain Glass "GlowLight" Page 1
	To download the 5 second MPEG video (473Kb) showing this with lights flashing gently behind the rose, click HERE. It's quite pretty. It looks a bit like candle light! For a closer look, click on the thumbnails. To download the TEXT version, go HERE. This can be unzipped and opened in any word processor and printed.

Copyright Colleen D. Bergeron. Last revised: May 16, 2006.

Copyright Colleen D. Bergeron.
Last revised: May 16, 2006.