Skylight Window to Stained Glass Look Table (Part 1)
by
Amanda
4 Materials
$10
1 Day
Medium
My neighbor took out some old skylights. One was still in great shape, so we used it for our shed, but the other one had lost the seal between panes, and in between the glass was pretty gross. It had a nice and heavy metal frame, and I didn’t want to see it go to waste, so I decided to make it into a stained-glass look patio table!
All you need for to make a faux stained-glass is a window or skylight, Modge Podge, puff paint in solid black or black metallic, and food coloring. You can just decorate the window and hang it somewhere, or you can take it to the next step and add legs to make it a table like I did (see part 2).
I didn’t take a great before photo of the window, but here you can kind of see the metal frame and the screws holding it together. The first step is to take apart the window and separate the two panes of glass.
Mine had a few screws along the outside that held the two metal frame pieces together, so first I removed those. Then after I separated the frame pieces, I had to separate the glass by cutting through the sealant holding the two glass pieces together. This particular window had a whole lot of tar-like sealant that was also caked in mud and dust, so I used a utility knife to carefully trim away as much as possible from around the outside edges of the glass, and then stuck the knife between the two panes and cut all the way around until the top pane could be removed.
Once they were separated, I continued to cut and scrape away the remaining sealant and then cleaned the glass as well as possible. I decided that I would paint the border of the glass a solid color to cover the bottom of the metal frame so I did not have to completely remove the second pane from the frame in order to clean of the hard water stains on the back of the second glass.
Then I printed my stained glass design and taped it to the bottom side of the remaining glass.
**This is the piece of glass that will be on the bottom of my table, and I am painting the side of the glass that will be between the two glass pieces!** You could also paint the underside of the other glass, as long as you are painting a part that will be in between your panes!
Using my puff paint, I traced my picture and added a simple border around the edges.
When the black border has dried, mix up your Modge Podge and food coloring to paint one color at a time. (I used dishwasher safe Modge Podge because I had it on hand and I want to keep this table outside, but the type won’t matter much as long as everything is completely dry and you re-seal everything really well after painting. You can also use watered down glue if you don’t have Modge Podge.) There is no real formula for how much color to add, you have to kind of judge it as you go. The more food coloring to Modge Podge you add, the darker and more vibrant your colors will be. Less will give you more pastels. You can also add some water to your mixture to make it spread evenly and without brush strokes.
Fill in one color at a time. I usually like to start with the color that has the largest surface area, or is closest to the middle. It will look sort of milky while you are applying it, but will clear up as it dries.
Use the brush to push the paint mix all the way to the edge of each section. You want it to completely touch your “lead lines” without going over them into a different colored section.
When you are finished filling in all of the areas, let it dry completely, then replace the other pane of glass and frame. Now you can use it as is or turn it into something more. I will show you how I turned it into a table for my patio in part 2!
**Note: if you want to use this outside in an exposed area, make sure you caulk the edges between the two panes as you put it back together. Otherwise water can get in between them and mess with your design!
Also, make sure to spray paint the frame before putting everything back together if you would like!
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2 of 11 comments
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Really pretty!!
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I just love your ideas and my visitors would feel the same. Please feel free to post on my site and link back to yours to get more visitors to your site. If you have any questions feel free to email me directly
Donna
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