Let the sunshine in (but not the prying eyes)

When I moved to Los Angeles nearly ten years ago I was overjoyed at the idea that I would not have to deal with snow anymore. Growing up in Chicago meant that winters were harsh (at the best of times). I knew that I wasn’t going to miss slippery roads, getting up early to scrape the ice off of my car, and trying to figure out what to do with a bulky winter coat every time I went into an overheated store.

However, what I didn’t expect was how much time I’d spend  sweltering. LA may not have much in the way of winter, but the summers can be fairly unbearable. I know, it’s a weird thing to be whining about, especially after spending most of my life in a climate where winter lasts for six months but after ten years in LA? Summer is the new winter. As in, I’m not a fan.

Luckily, we have an air conditioner. Not so lucky? The air conditioner was one that we had to purchase and install ourselves, which means that our curtain and blind situation gets a little awkward whenever we turn it on. Our apartment is garden style, so our living room windows face the hallway. The result? Unless we keep the curtains and blinds closed our neighbors get a full view of the living room and whatever is happening in it. Not that we’re ever doing anything particularly interesting, but I’d still prefer not to have people peeking in at me like a zoo exhibit.

So what to do when it’s hot out and we need to crank the A/C? My solution in years past has been to pull back the blinds and curtains enough to let the air come through and then create faux curtains using a sheet the same color as our actual curtains and---I am so ashamed to admit this---pieces of paper to fill in the gaps. If you’re thinking that sounds like the jankiest thing ever, you would be absolutely correct. Anything is better than roasting but I still felt pangs of guilt and shame whenever I saw that window.

Imagine my joy when my friend told me about gallery glass: paint that can help you create stained glass looking projects. I decided that this was going to be my new thing. I was going to create beautiful faux glass projects that would let the light in and still allow us to have privacy. Of course in crafting, as in life, love, and politics, things don’t always go as planned. More on that later. Here’s the supply list, in case you want to give this a whirl:

*Gallery glass paint

In theory, you should be able to find this at almost any craft store. However, I had a devil of a time trying to locate it. It seemed to be available on a lot of websites, but not in the actual store. And I am a creature of instant gratification. I was finally able to find some in Hobby Lobby, although I didn’t get exactly what I wanted. The paint itself is fairly inexpensive, so I just grabbed some bottles. I picked a few colors and made sure to grab a bottle of black, as well, for the outlining.

*Plexiglass

This is pretty much available at any craft or hardware store. I grabbed a medium size sheet because I am terrible at planning ahead and did not measure my window to see what size I would actually need. Luckily, it fit perfectly. Sometimes the crafting gods abide.

*Brushes and Foam Brushes

I bought a cheapie bag of brushes simply because I wanted them, but I’m glad that I did. Maybe it was just me, but I found that the gallery glass did not wash out of the brushes well. I was thankful for my extras.

*Paper and a sharpie

Oh, yes. There will be tracing.

Step One

Decide what you want to paint and draw it out. This is where the paper came in handy for me. As everyone who knows me will tell you, freehand drawing is not my strong suit. So, I opted to pull a page out of a coloring book and use the general outline from it, while including “panes” (sections) of my own creation. I taped the coloring book page to a large section of paper and drew the panes around it because I didn’t trust myself to immediately begin work on the plexiglass.

Now, you don’t have to go this route. There are tons of patterns available on the internet, or maybe you’re a rockstar when it comes to freehand drawing. As always, do what works best for you.

Step Two

If you decided to go ahead and draw your design on a piece of paper first, this is the part where tracing comes in.

(I had to)

Trace your design using the black gallery glass. I laid it on fairly thick, to create the illusion of an outline. I believe there is actually outline paint that you can purchase for this purpose, but I just used black and it worked out fine. Once you have completed your outlining/tracing you need to wait for the paint to dry before beginning the next step. I let it dry overnight, but if you start on the project early you probably only need to wait 8-12 hours.

Step Three

Add the colors. This is where it got dicey and potentially Pinterest fail-y for me. As you can see I was working with a large piece of plexiglas and I divided it into large sections to be painted. As such, I simply squeezed a great deal of paint onto the surface and began to attempt to paint with a regular brush.

Mistake number one.

The paint turned streaky almost immediately. Even the new brush was leaving bristle traces. I abandoned it in favor of a foam brush and went with a spread and dab method. This worked somewhat better, but it still took a lot of paint to fill in the gaps.

Once I thought I was done (note the word “thought”) I set the project aside to dry. However, as it began to dry I noticed a problem: the paint was streaky. Like, extremely streaky. Embarrassingly streaky. It was especially noticeable with the blue paint.

So I did the only thing I could think of: I went back over it with even more paint.  And still more when it was still streaky. All in all, I think I made three or four passes to get the depth and effect that I was going for.

Do I like it? Yes. Does it serve the purpose that I intended it for? Yes. Do I wish it had been easier and less streaky? Yes.

So, what went wrong here? I’m not exactly sure. After consulting with a fellow crafter, I learned that many people use gallery glass for smaller projects, not an entire window covering of plexiglass. In my friend’s experience, gallery glass seemed to work best when it was pooled into a small space as opposed to being brushed over a large one. This seems to make sense as the paint really didn’t appear to like being manipulated. However, if you’re going to do a bigger project with gallery glass know that you’re going to need A LOT of paint if you use the pooling method. The paint that I had is pretty much gone, with the exception of the purple (because that was the least used). So even though the bottles of paint are fairly inexpensive, I can see them adding up quickly if you need four or five to complete one section of your project.

Would I try working with gallery glass again? I think I would, although I’d attempt a smaller project on my next go around. Like I said, I like what I wound up creating and it does get the job done.

Isn’t it funny how the projects we think will be the easiest wind up being the most complicated? Has this ever happened to you? Let me know in the comments!