How Do You Do It?How To Accomplish Just About Anything

Stained glass is among the most lovely of home accessories and can easily be accomplished in your own home using just craft and hobby supplies that you find at such stores as Hobby Lobby or Joann Fabrics.

It’s a fun project that will add a great deal to the ambiance of your home, putting that personal stamp on whatever room you add it to, and the cost is far less than the addition of a real stained glass piece, primarily in the outlay of time, as opposed to the thousands of dollars that a stained glass window can cost..

If you can’t find what you’re looking for so far as patterns go on the internet, Amazon does have some great books on stained glass and faux stained glass.
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Plexiglas sheet

Design Pattern

Leading strips

Craft knife

Liquid leading base

Glass paint (Ceramcoat also makes glass paint ins a wonderful array of colors) in colors of your choice

double ended toothpicks

Sealer for  paint

Clear double sided tape

Measure your window and have your local builders supply store or hardware store cut you a piece of Plexiglas cut to fit the dimensions of it.

You will paint on a sheet of Plexiglas then attach it to your window rather than paint on the window itself.

The Plexiglas is necessary because you need a flat surface or the paint will run downward and make a serious mess as you’re trying to paint it. It also makes it a great deal easier to remove the stained glass if you change your mind.. or your style in the future.

Measure the window you want to do and record the length and width.
Any home improvement store can cut a sheet of Plexiglas for you.
Have the sheet cut 1/36 of an inch less than the measurements you take for the window to let the painted sheet mount correctly.

Choose a design .

Craft stores sell kits that come with patterns for windows and specify what colors to use. You may also draw your own design if you’re good at that kind of thing.. I personally chose stencils, which allow for some wonderful designs, tell me where to put the leading by the lines and are very forgiving to the beginner.
Enlarge your pattern  to fit your sheet.
Place the pattern underneath the Plexiglas and secure with tape so the paper does not move during painting .

Place the leading strips on the outlines.

The leading strips do not contain actual lead by the way. They are however sticky on the back once the paper is removed.
Place the strips on the Plexiglas following the lines of the pattern underneath.
Press down on the strips fairly firmly to make sure they are securely held in place and as you need to you’ll cut them with a craft knife to fit the lines of your pattern.

Do not re-position the leading strips, they will lose their adhesive.

The liquid leading comes in a squeeze bottle with a long nozzle. All you have to do is snip off the end of it with scissors and leave yourself a small hole, and use it as a squeeze bottle.

Squeeze a small amount of the leading over the joints of the leading strips.
The joints are the places where the leading strips come together.

What this does is to give you the look of soldered joints like the actual stained glass has.T Let the liquid leading dry for 24 hours before proceeding to paint your project.

Paint your design.

The glass paint also comes in plastic bottles with nozzles. Again snip the end with scissors to form a small hole in the nozzle. Do not shake the bottle before painting. The glass paint does not need to be stirred and stirring it leaves you lovely bubbles that are a real pain in the neck.

You will fill in the sections created by the leading with paint. It is best to start painting in the center of the design and work your way out so you do not lay your arm in areas already painted.  Apply sealer to your project.

Apply the sealer to your painted project . This will protect your painted window from fingerprints and changes in humidity. Let the project dry for 24 hours before hanging.

Hang the Plexiglas sheet in the window by placing the clear double-sided tape around the edges and mounting the painted Plexiglas sheet onto the tape just by pressing gently around the edges.

After one week you can clean the painted window with a damp cloth but don’t use any harsh chemicals on it. Mild soap and water will be enough.

Here is my outcome. I found the free stained glass window pattern online by googling and there are multiple ones available to you on Chantals Stained glass site, which offers some wonderful free patterns.