This will become your “Skeleton” which organizes the parts of your composition.

Consider the various means in which compositions can be organized through pattern:

Stained Glass

Clothing

Blueprints

Jewelry

Wallpaper/Tile

Coloring Books

Digital Vector Designs

NATURE

Stained Glass Planning & Set-up

What types of elements are you drawn to?

Spiraling

Meandering

Waving

Fractal

Geometrical

Symmetrical

What types of design are you drawn to?

Victorian

Gothic

Romanesque

Celtic

Greek

Art Nouveau

Using your sketchbook and possibly your laptop, please follow these instructions:

1.) Please record this information in your sketchbooks

2.) Create an image from a photograph, motif or main idea

3.) Use design elements that you are fond of as components of in your background, explore, research

4.) Small/intricate designs will not work as well as larger elements, for example: eye lashes, hair, spikes,

teeth, etc.

5.) Check out the images below to help get you going

6.) Sketch out a couple of thumbnails first – a variety of ideas

7.) Choose the concept you would like to implement and draw it as a contour line drawing much like a

coloring book – line art only (no shading, etc.)

8.) This drawing will eventually act as our template

9.) The size should reach no larger than 12 x12 inches and no smaller than 8 x 8 inches

10.) We are concentrating on rectangular or square edges for now, do not plan for a round finished piece

Here are instructions from a veteran stained glass artist:

1. Inspiration

Photos are always good for inspiration, and can get you past that empty blank page you're faced with

at the beginning of a project.

Find one that interests you. It can either be one you've taken, or one that you've found. I've chosen

one I took of a cactus in Lanzarote.

Cactus photograph for design inspiration

Think about why you chose your photo? What do you like about it? Is it the colour, the shapes, does it

make you laugh? Whatever it is you like about your image is what you're trying to capture in your

design.

In the photo above, I liked the contrast of the strong, spiky leaves with the wispy twirly bits at the end.

I also like the light and dark greens, and the energy that brings.

2. Selecting Part of the Image

It's sometimes easier to choose a section of a photo, rather than the whole thing. If you tried to pick

out all the shapes in this one, there would be hundreds of complicated pieces and it would be too

difficult, even for someone with lots of experience in stained glass.

Selecting an area to use for the pattern

You can isolate a section by either cutting out a square or rectangle in a piece of paper and hovering it

over your image until you find a section you like, or on a computer.

Turn your photo upside down and around if you want. This sometimes helps you see something

different.

3. Making Simple Shapes

Now pick out some simple shapes. I've done it on my computer in the photo below, but you can do it

by putting tracing paper over your image and tracing some of the shapes that you like.

The lead lines in stained glass are your 'drawing', and they are a very strong part of your design. It's

best to think about the pattern they make carefully at this stage. I'm trying to get mine nice and spiky

here.

You can see I've also picked out the wispy bits that I liked about the photo at the beginning. They give a

bit of 'life' to the design.

Outlining the shapes for the stained glass pattern

4. Color and Texture

Once you're happy with the shapes, you can start thinking about color and texture. I always color in my

designs so that I don't make mistakes later on with the beautiful artglass.

Make a few photocopies or scan your outline design, and work out what colors you want and where, so

that you get the balance right at this stage.

Working out color and texture in your design

If you leave some areas clear, it really makes the design stand out. It makes the colors 'zing'.

In the design above I've tried to create some depth with the dark and light shades.

5. Adding the 'Lead Lines'

This is the point that it all comes together.

Add the lead lines in, along with any details that you want to add - in this case my 'wispy' copper wire.

To get this effect, simply solder pieces of bent copper wire to your solder lines after soldering.

Now you can really get a sense of what your stained glass panel will look like.

Adding the lead lines to your stain glass pattern

Make sure you're really happy with your design. You don't want to waste time and money making it in

glass if it's not right at this stage.

How to Make Stained Glass Designs - Troubleshooting

Some things to watch out for:

that the shapes are ones that can be cut out in glass.

anything that tapers off into a thin point. These are difficult to cut, so widen the ends a bit.

shapes that don't join up with other shapes. You can't have shapes that stop in the middle of the glass,

there must be a lead line to the edge, or to another shape.

lots of points joining in the same place. They will end up creating a big blob of solder. Try putting a

circle where they meet instead.

concave curves. They're the most difficult shapes to cut as the glass wants to break on the inside of the

curve, so don't make them too deep. Try to avoid them altogether for your first piece.

More Patterning Tips: Those of you that know how to Vector on the computer, may go about creating your pattern as such. Those of

you who would like to draw can consider tracing in this style:

From this to something like this!