Faux Stained Glass Paintings on Transparency Sheets

In the “better late than never” category, last Spring we made these super fun faux stained glass paintings in the 5th/6th grade class.

For this project, you will need clear transparency sheets, Sharpie markers, Gallery Glass Paint (the kind used to paint suncatchers), regular acrylic paints (optional) and cardstock picture frames (also optional).  I had a bunch of transparency sheets in my classroom already and I got the glass paint FREE from an art re-swap, so I knew I wanted to do something with these materials.

This unit was tied in to Medieval stained glass art and I showed them a slideshow of stained glass and cathedrals.

To begin, sketch out your design on a piece of paper.  Place the transparency over your sketch and trace the image using Sharpie (or other permanent) marker.  Then, using the glass paint bottles, squeeze paint onto your design.  Gently use the tip of the bottle to spread around the paint.

The glass paint has a translucent quality, so it looks lovely hung up in windows.  You can also use acrylic paints in places if you want those colors opaque.

Dry them on a drying rack overnight.  If you stack them all together they might stick.  We stored them with a piece of white copy paper in between each one.

We taped our transparencies to card stock frames in order to hang them up on the windows more easily.

You can also place tinfoil behind them for a metallic look.