Matthew Sturm from Christ Church of Oak Brook in Oak Brook, IL brings us this cool stained glass look.
From Matthew: This design was based off of our SOLA series about the reformation. We wanted to give the feeling of an old church with the stone and stained glass.
Materials:
Sketchup for the design
12 4×8 sheets of 1″ rigid foam insulation
8 4×8 sheets of 1/4″ black foam core for “stain glass”
Jig Saw
Hot knife kit from Hotwirefoamfactory.com
Paint, sponge and rollers
String
Markers
Cellophane ( different colors for stained glass)
Hot glue gun
Heat Gun
Our stage area that I have to work with is 30′ wide, 11′ tall and 16″ deep. One of my biggest challenge is to create a feeling of depth and height. I used SketchUp to get the basic design and how to lay out the 4×8 sheets of insulation. I was able to lay out the sheets and use the measurements to create the “mortar” and “cut” lines. The main half circle I was able to use string to make the circle, I found that using a piece of wood compass for the smaller circles was more accurate then string. After all the lines have been drawn time to start cutting and carving. I was able to get a straight hot knife from harbor fright for under $20 – that’s what I used for the main cutting. The other hot knife I used was more for the mortar lines and fine details. After all the cutting I used a heat gun on the whole surface to help create the “stone” texture.
For the Stained Glass I used the foam core, After the template was made, I found it way faster to use a Jig Saw to cut out 3 or 4 half’s at a time ( if you do this make sure they do not move, I used screws and tape to hold them in place). Used different color cellophane and hot clue on the back side to make the glass panels.
Painting – Rolled on a base coat and sponged on the 2 other colors. We have stone in our space already so we did our best to match it.
Like a puzzle we put it together with tape and bubble gum. I used a wood frame on the top and added support where needed.
If you need help with stained glass, I make a safety glass art glass product that looks just like real glass without the lead and dangerous shattering glass! LOL
I’m looking to create a stained glass set using similar materials, this is great! Did you light it from behind or just from the front?