Suzy @ Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom made a beautiful peacock stained glass replica using glue and paint. I couldn't believe it when I saw it and wanted to find a way to allow my children and students complete a similar projects. We started with a peacock image and continued to explore various designs. It was a long process simply because of drying time - however we were THRILLED with the results.
Drawn pattern (or page from a coloring book)
Sheet of plastic (the covers of toys, heavy duty binder sheets)
2 bottles of think white glue (or more depending on your surface size)
Acrylic paints - DO NOT use TEMPRA it peels
for hanging: hole punch, coordinating ribbon and section cups
Choose large images with simple lines. We created an image of 4 shapes (sun and 3 flowers) that didn't touch - then added lines to connect them giving us plenty of spaces to fill with color.
Outline your image with your black glue to create 'lead lines'
Making your black glue is simple. Just add three or four drops of black acrylic paint and 2 or 3 drops of sliver paint to a bottle of thick white school glue.
Shake well. Re cap and draw the black at your 'lead lines' for your design.
Allow them to dry 2 days.
Adding color 'faux stained glass'
Pour a manageable amount of glue onto a paper plate add a couple drops of acrylic paint. Mix the glue and paint together well.
Apply with a small brush to the sections of your design.
We found it was ok to paint up to (and slightly over) your black outline.
Let dry completely.
*You might find it needs a second coat for some areas to achieve a solid (yet translucent) coverage.
Once completely dry punch holes at the top of your plastic sheet.
Add a ribbon and hang using suction cups.
This is for decorative purposed only and should not be used for exterior windows.
Peeling paint...Suzie says "occasionally, I have had a line peel up too. When it is at the stage of just leading lines, the project can be a bit fragile. My solution has always been to glue the line back down. You could technically use glass glue for this, but I’ve just gone the route of a few dabs of Elmers. Once you lay down the colors, the lines themselves will be much more stable.
One advantage of this is that if you do make a mistake, it can be peeled up and you can start over. I am adding to the tutorial that a good idea would be to spray the project with a clear coat of acrylic sealant once the project has totally dried and been completed to protect from any damage."
here's an alternate version using store bought paint for your lead lines and food coloring with the glue.
|Dick Blick Art Lessons|
First stop: Visit the Met! and view their stained glass from the Middle Ages
Then read the HISTORY OF STAINED GLASS
Based on remains found at Pompeii and Heraculaneum, stained glass was first used by wealthy Romans in their villas and palaces in the first century A.D. At this time stained glass was considered a domestic luxury rather than an artistic medium. It began to be regarded as an art form when Constantine first permitted Christians to worship openly in 313 A.D., as they began to build churches based on Byzantine models. The earliest surviving example of pictorial stained glass is a Head of Christ from the tenth century excavated from Lorsch Abbey in Germany.
Romanesque Period, 12th Century
By the ninth and tenth centuries, as the demand for churches increased so did the production of decorative stained glass windows. Early Romanesque style stained glass was influenced by the linear patterning, abstraction and severe frontality found in Byzantine Art. Most church windows depicted individual monumental figures with few tiers in lozenge shaped groupings. The relatively small windows of the period were designed to admit as much light as possible. Thus, images made with predominantly red and blue glass were then surrounded by white glass. King Hezekiah from Trinity Chapel, Canterbury Cathedral, England dated 1220 and Charlemange Enthroned, c.1220 from Strasbourg Cathedral, Austria reflects the classic monumentality and Byzantine derived infused bands of color and an emerging tendency to look at the Imperial past for inspiration.
Gothic Period, 13th - 14th Century
With the advent of Gothic architecture, stained glass flourished as the expansion of immense window spaces in Gothic cathedrals demanded a new approach to the medium. Red and blue remain the predominant color choice and the tendency to fuse white glass in the composition allowing for more light gives way to completely filling up of space with ornate designs consisting of darker glass. A wide variety of geometrical shapes emerge as narrative becomes more important and complex juxtaposition of events are recorded in compartmental sequences. Decorative borders and foliage become more formalized and intricate while experimentation with more naturalistic and volumetric forms appears in figurative work. The flashed glass technique is introduced, offering glaziers a means to achieve a variety of color gradations in a single piece of colored glass. The emergence of the Rose Window at St. Denis Cathedral and Chartres Cathedral, both in France, greatly influences the field throughout Europe as providing a means to depict more complex ideas as embellishments in Biblical narrative become prevalent.
Toward the end of the thirteenth century a desire for more illumination surfaced with an increase in non-figurative windows and concentric patterning that incorporated more transparent glass. One of the finest examples of this shift in taste is York Minster's Five Sisters Windows, a remarkable display of grisaille glazing. Grisaille glazing was first favored by the Cistercian Order under St. Bernard, who found that figurative windows distracted monks from religious responsibilities. This labor intensive technique consisting of complex formalized leaf-like forms relying on an intricate pattern of lead and a great deal of painted detail and crosshatching became widespread throughout England and France. As the palette became increasingly lighter, horizontal layers of colored glass and grisaille, or band windows, were incorporated in the figurative windows. As widespread adoption of elaborate stone window tracery occurred, figurative groupings fall out of favor and the individual figure resurfaces, but now framed by architectural canopies. Stained glass witnessed its greatest diversity in design, style, palette and sentiment during the Gothic period. This diversity in approach combined with the skilled artistry that developed with the formation of regulated guilds and a wide array of technological advances elevated the medium to a position of preeminence that would remain unsurpassed.
So what good is ART anyway?
Art adds rich opportunities to:
· Explore, observe, and analyze visual and other sensory qualities in many
objects, subjects, and events
· Identify and apply knowledge of visual qualities of line, color, texture, value,
form, and space
· Investigate and apply knowledge of formal structures including unity, emphasis,
balance, variety, pattern, and proportion
· Reflect on sensory information through personal interpretation and response
Its allows children to explore, react and communicate thoughts, feelings and desires.
Just read an interesting article from the Washington Post. Do you know the skills that young people learn from studying the arts? They serve as a reminder that the arts — while important to study for their intrinsic value — also promote skills seen as important in academic and life success.
Art, Learning & Play
Over the years, I have evolved and grown into my job as a mother, as my family has evolved and grown in size. With each child, my world changed, not only in mathematical terms but also in dynamics, imagination and creativity!
In addition to making sure each child gets some undivided mommy attention, playing dolls, reading books, cars, blocks, cooking and sewing etc...I allow them to explore their world and focus on creating kids crafts and art projects that cater to their current interests.
So this website grew from a place to store all our holiday kids crafts to one that shows off our home school learning crafts on the topics of the kid's choice.
The children in turn have become creative designers and are working on their own craft ideas, personal interest websites and business blogs. Yes, they are only in elementary school. However, in this house we focus on each child choosing a business to explore and create.
Art refers to the
conscious effort of
human beings to
express their ideas
and feelings about
themselves and their
--Cohen and Gaines
What is a great craft?
A simple project with a predetermined result that provides a child with step by step directions. A craft gives the child confidence to try a new skill with a result that will impress him to try it again more independently.
See our sister site for Free Printable Art crafts for homeschool and classroom