Transoms and Transformations

With a title like that, I probably should follow with a Jane Austen theme, shouldn't I? Ah, can't you see it now?...Pride and Prejudice... Sense and Sensibility... Transoms and Transformations...
"A cautionary social mores tale about a witty yet naive, upper-class 18th century young woman, designing stained glass windows the same way she pieces together the shattered love lives of those around her..."
Okay, so... no.

Fortunately, my actual stained glass window project was a little more successful than my knock-off Austen.

Yes-- when last we left the project, I was hoping to take the boarded-up window I'd inherited in my livingroom and stylishly add this...
To this...
Then I'd tried a gel stain (which you can supposedly paint on non-wood items, as well) in Aged Oak. One coat looked hopeful-- like this:
Unfortunately, Coat Two ended up looking like this...
Really dark and still not spread evenly. A third coat would have made it almost black. And black would have been the opposite of Improvement. So I shifted my gameplan.

I decided to paint over it with a lighter warm brown undercoat, let that dry, and then went over it in a darker brown topcoat. Then woodgrained it. Here's the dark brown coat...

And, would you believe a variety pack of haircombs from the drug store served as the appropriate woodgraining tools?

When done, I went over the whole thing with a clear Satin topcoat, to keep the shine down so it would match the rest of my faux wood painted baseboards. (Thankfully, it does!!)

Then came time to add the stained glass window panel. As the stained glass was a little smaller than the boarded up area, I decided I would faux finish the rest of the board to make it look like stained glass, too.

For each layer of "glass" I used a light paint and dark paint in the same general color palette, and blended while wet.
So here are the edges all taped off and painted. Uneven gradations and variation will help make it look more like stained glass (I did a lot of staring at real stained glass to figure out how it worked!)...
Now the inside. We tape off...
And add the green. This is a combination of Forest Green Folk Art paint and some leftover wall paint from this room. That color is called "Celadon" by Eddie Bauer, in their Craftsman collection.
Now we move on to the middle block to surround the arced stained glass. This was done in some of the tans for the first layer, along with some of the brown used for the window frame. The corners also got a little pop of red...
And here I fit the stained glass panel into place, to double-check that it fits.
Last, I used some stick-on craft leading I'd picked up ages ago for another project, and added them in, extending the real-lead lines of the actual stained glass window in to the new faux ones.
And voila! Completed window!

Oh wait-- let's not forget the McCoy vase collection to match!...
Phew! I'm kinda tired now! Where's Mr. Darcy? It's time to take a nice, quiet night off.

Thanks for bearing with me everyone, while I completed the project.

And I hope you all have a marvelous rest of your week.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW! That is a mighty job you've done there! Your painting around it was perfect. It is so beautiful!

Unknown said...

BRILLIANT! I wouldn't have known that so much was faux, if you hadn't shown me!

Heidi Ann said...

Well, you certainly did a wonderful job - it looks GREAT!!

Vonlipi said...

That is really nice looking! Congrats on all that hard work, it paid off big time!

Peggy said...

I've been anxiously awaiting the results of this project. It looks fantastic! I hope my stained glass piece looks half as good when I finally get it in place.

Debbie-Dabble Blog and A Debbie-Dabble Christmas said...

What a great idea! I think it looks fantastic!
Debbie

My Patchwork Katt said...

most impressive - its really awesome -- just moved into our new house & its a blank slate - your house is such an inspiration!! hope we have as much fun :)
rj

TexNan said...

Very well done! I'm impressed. I did a faux stained glass window in our lake house ages ago, but that was glass paint on glass and didn't require the artistry you've shown here. Brava!

These Simple Minutes said...

Okay. So you are just brilliant! I love this!!!

Jenn Thorson said...

Oh, wow, I didn't expect the explosion of comments this morning when I logged on!

Everyone, thank you! You're all so nice.

I'm just so relieved that corner of the room is looking better. It's been YEARS that it's bugged me.

Sandy aka Doris the Great said...

Wonderful job! I'm very impressed. Good on ya!

Cari said...

That looks REALLY awesome! Great job!

Midwest Mom said...

Great job! I do stained glass, and I love the way you extended the leading -- very authentic.

And as an added bonus, now you can tease your hair in a variety of hues. Who knew the variety pack of combs could be so versatile?? ;)

- Julia

RecycleCindy said...

I LOVE how this turned out. So pretty and professional-looking. What a wonderful way to transform that window frame into a work of art. Stumbled too.

Donna said...

Hi, Jenn,
Thanks for commenting on my mom's teapot. Thanks for giving me that date. I knew it had to be old, because Mom was born in 1916. So this date would be about right.

D

Jenn Thorson said...

Sandy and Cari- Hey, thank you!!

Julia- Absolutely, I mean NOTHING looks nicer on a gal's -do that a Teddybear Tan or Walnut brown. :) (Thank goodness I didn't have to woodgrain the green, eh? :)

Cindy- Oh, you're a sweetheart-- thanks!

D- Oh, you're welcome. I saw your blog name in my blog stats and thought it was such a happy title, I had to check out what it was about. Then I got sucked into the teapot story. :) That particular portrait appears on a number of different things...vases, plates... never know where she'll turn up.

Miss Shirl said...

That is so pretty!

TJ Lubrano said...

Oh my!! WOW! Jenn! This is soo pretty :D! You did such a nice job with this! I love it!

Lois said...

Jenn...it looks AWESOME!
What a smartie you are!
Thanks for sharing.
Lois

Alex M said...

Holy trompe l’oeil Batman!!! That's really cool!!!

Melanie said...

That turned out fantastic! Great work Jenn!!!!

down bedding said...

Wow, you such an amazing job!!!!!

Colleen said...

Clever and absolutely gorgeous!

siouxwoman said...

When I saw the final artwork I thought you'd actually had stained glass added around it! It looks faux real and awesome!!!

Jenn Thorson said...

TJ and Shirley- Hey, thanks. I know both of you ladies are artistic, so I'm glad you like it!

Lois- It only took me... oh... seven, eight years to figure it out. :)

Alex- That made me laugh out loud.

Melanie, Down and Colleen- Many thanks, ladies! And thank you for visiting.

SiouxWoman- You know, I DID briefly contemplate trying to do it with actual glass, but I haven't worked with it before, and one of my mosaicing projects turned out kinda tragically, so I thought I would be safer with paint. :)

Anonymous said...

Wow, I love the way that wood stain looks...you have truly inspired me!!I have all this white wood trim that I dislike and wanted to replace it with real oak but now I'm going to try the wood gel. I'll let you know how it comes out. I also LOVE your stained glass piece!!
patti

Jenn Thorson said...

Patti- DON'T use the gel stain-- that's what I used for the first attempt above that DIDN'T WORK. What worked above was a light acrylic paint undercoat and then a regular paint topcoat in a medium brown, which I woodgrained. I hope I've headed you off. Gel stain gave the too-dark uneven look I'd tried first and had to abandon.

crpitt said...

Jenn!!!!!!!!!! (shouted in excitement)

I knew it was you that liked/loved William Morris.

This looks wonderful, where is the glass panel from?

The reason for the excitement is that at my local church, which I actually went into the other day (well month), not for a service (don't panic), there was a wedding dresses through the ages event on. One of the curators told me about the window in this photograph:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4418445000_23aac55909_b.jpg

Which was made/designed by William Morris.

I thought you would find that cool?

They said I could go to the church anytime and they would open up for me, so I could take pictures. So hopefully will get some more shots :)

You never cease to amaze me with your talent.

Jenn Thorson said...

Claire-- Oh yes, it's me. I love William Morris. I'm not traditionally a big pattern person, but I find his work really interesting and sort of soothing.

The glass panel is from a catalog company called www.homedecorators.com . They have a number of historically-inspired stained glass panels that are, as far as stained glass goes anyway, pretty affordable.

The window in the flickr picture is just beautiful (in fact, the whole room is). It looks like Burne-Jones might have had a hand in that window, as well, based on the poses of the figures.

I am always so amazed how much art and history there is in the UK that's just open to the public to enjoy.

Laura said...

I love it!