by Natasa Shepherd

Created on: February 15, 2009   Last Updated: February 22, 2009

I don't know about you but whenever I think of stained glass windows the first (and pretty much the only) thing that comes to mind is a church. There is a possibility, however, to turn this traditional look into something modern. How? With vector designs. If you are not sure what this is just Google vector art or vector design under images, cool huh? You can also use deviantart.com as a resource to find a design you like, make sure though that the person is OK with their art being used and reused, most users on deviant art will have "rules" about using their work. Most times you can use it but not for commercial purposes such as reselling it.

Need:

- Clear contact paper (buy it at your local hardware store or online, its pretty inexpensive)

- Print out of the design you want

- Scissors and/or Stanley knife (runs about a buck or two at any store)

- Glass Paints (these come in both opaque and transparent colours, you should choose according to the design you are working with)

- Paint brush/es

- Black permanent marker (thickness according to need)

- Clear gloss spray paint (runs a couple of bucks at the hardware store)

How to:

- If you are going to use an image like this one vs. designs like these, you might want to go to your local photo center and order a custom size print that will fit your window, otherwise your printer will do just fine.

- Cut out the clear contact paper ( make sure it has a clear backing too so you can place it over the design and see through it).

- Place it on top of the design print out (adhesive side down but do not remove the backing!) making sure you align it properly.

- Now, remember when you were a kid and you traced pictures onto the paper? This is exactly what you will do. One way is to trace the outlines with the black permanent marker and then paint the insides, or you can do the outlining with opaque paints and the rest with the translucent ones. Either way first do the outlines of the design and let it dry off completely, this takes about 4 hours more or less, you are welcome to blow dry it to speed up the process.

- Filling in the design will take some precision and patience. You will not need a lot of paint as the contact paper wont absorb it, so take care not to put on too much onto the brush and to have only one layer of paint everywhere. You want to make one way even strokes otherwise it will look messy, streaky and blotchy.

- Let this dry, do not lift up vertically until it is completely dried otherwise some runnage might happen, after spray on a coat of clear gloss spray paint.

- Once the spray paint is dry you are ready to carefully put it up onto the window glass.

There you go now you have a unique and beautiful (but faux..shh!) stained glass window, for just a fraction of the price too!

Tips:

- Another option for a textured look of the outline is instead of using regular paint or markers is to use heavy dimensional fabric paint.

- Have someone help you when applying the film onto the window, don't take all of the backing off at once start with a corner, align it and stick it on then slowly pull the backing while adhering the rest of the film to the window, this minimizes chances of any air bubbles or wrinkles.

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