Stained Glass

Hello everyone. Today I tried a new technique called stained glass. This was the technique challenge on SCS for this week. Although I love how the card turned out, the technique part of it gave me some problems. The technique is done by stamping your image on acetate (transparency) with black Stazon and then coloring the back side with a mixture of ink refill and crystal effects. The one aspect of crystal effects that I have never liked is the time it takes to dry. When SU first started selling it, I got a bottle, really hated it and actually traded it to someone. Eventually, I decided to try it again and have basically made my peace with it. I love to use it to adhere glitter and things like gems. I still don't like to use it as a glossy coating. So you can imagine that the stained glass technique was somewhat outside my comfort zone, but I decided to be brave and give it a try anyway.

I started by stamping the single coneflower from Cornish Heritage Farms on the acetate with black Stazon. I let it dry for a couple of minutes and then turned the acetate over. Using an artist palette, I mixed a drop or two of CE with a couple of drops of orange ink refill and started by painting the flower petals. Although I was using a pretty small brush, I still had a hard time keeping inside the lines. Then I washed out the brush and used chocolate chip and CE for the flower center and olive for the stem. Now the next part is really simple... let it dry. The instructions said at least an hour. So I set it aside, started some laundry, took a shower, ate lunch. By the time I came back to it, at least a two hour period had gone by. I lightly touched the color... seemed dry, so I started figuring out what card stock I was going to use and wouldn't you know, I smeared a spot that wasn't quite dry... ARRRRGGGGHHHH! I tried a couple more times on another piece, but those just didn't look right, so I came back to my original and decided to use it anyway. Maybe if I try this technique again, I'll use Future floor finish instead of CE.

I decided to use river rock, rust and black card stock. I used my cuttlebug and oval nestabilities to make the window and frame. The acetate is simple glued in between the layers. I stamped the sentiment and added faux stitching, but it was still too bare. So I punched out some photo corner punches, added some copper brads and attached the corners with foam tape. And I love it. It's hard to see from the photo, but the inside oval is actually transparent and the color behind the flower is the inside of the card.

Supplies
stamps: single coneflower (Cornish Heritage Farms), sentiment (bloomin' beautiful - SU)
ink: jet black stazon, ink refills - only orange, old olive, chocolate chip, black marker
paper: river rock, really rust, basic black
other: acetate, crystal effects, paint brush, cuttlebug, oval nestabilities, piercing tool, copper brads, photo corner punch, foam tape

I'm so glad you stopped by.