How To: Make Faux Stained Glass From Tissue Paper (Any Age)

After searching this site I was surprised to not see this one which we learned from a teacher friend, and with the Kids Craft Challenge coming up we were so on!

This is a super simple craft any one can do and it's really cheap to boot!

You can vary the complexity to make it suitable to any age range, or take up any amount of time. So buckle up because we're about to go for a ride.

Supplies

For this craft you really only need 3 things (can make multiple crafts for $16 in supplies):

Tissue Paper (any colors as long as they're see through - we found we could use white with water soluble paint or markers to get any color we wanted) - you can get like 36 sheets off Amazon, and if you prefer you can save yourself some time and buy it precut in 36 different colors!
Black Paper - we used scrapbook since that's what we had, but construction would work too. Rigid is best (cardstock)
Con-Tact paper (clear glossy or matte both worked fine. I would use glossy though - it's a taste thing). This one had same day shipping. If anybody knows of a more clear paper that's easier to work with I'm all ears. The glue kind of clouds it up, which isn't really that bad since you're making rustic old stained glass...

You'll also want some sort of cutting device (not required, but will definitely help). Think:

Scissors
Paper Cutter
X-acto Knife
Cricut or Silhoutte

Step 1: Prep: Cut Your Paper

Much of the prep work can be done while the kids are in bed - as it can be time consuming depending what and how much you're planning to tackle. Don't be afraid to include them in this part if they're old enough! As you can see my 7+ crew had to help prep their own.

The end goal of this step is to have:

Piles of tissue paper cut down to size.
Black opaque strips for the borders.
Black opaque shapes or strips for setting off your design.
Your Con-Tact paper cut to size (at least the front)

If you have a specific plan (IE everyone is making the exact same heart I'm cutting out for valentines or flag for Independence Day) then feel free to start cutting those shapes in whatever size you want. Otherwise, I'd consult with your kids on what they want to make. Don't let perfection be the enemy of a good time!

The tissue paper doesn't have to be square or all the same size. It can actually be helpful to have some rhombuses or strips or smaller pieces to fill in your shapes well. They don't even have to be pieces. If I were to make Mario again I would just cut each color as a whole section intact and slap it on.

You'll want to cut out your borders first. Thicker strips (about 1/3 inch or 8-12 mm seems about right). You'll be applying 4 around the edges to set off and contain your stained glass. You could make it contiguous if you're really ambitious like Kiwi Co. did, but definitely not necessary. The nice thing is if you've chosen a rigid cardstock it will help prevent the Con-Tact paper from curling while you're working with it. We didn't have sizes pre-determined, and just trimmed these down as we went.

Next you'll want to cut the shapes of your design

Level 1 designs really is all just strait strips of black paper with piles of tissue paper squares. They can use (or you can) thin strips (think 1/5 inch or 5 mm) to make geometric designs. That's all the stars we made our first time were - piles of strait black paper that we tore down to size.

Level 2 is handcutting some shapes that you've sketched out. The snowman, unicorn and hearts were all done this way, and the kids liked making it their own.

Level 3 would be printing out a picture and tracing it out with an X-acto knife onto your black paper.

Level 4 is what I did with Mario and Zelda's shield. Digitally design it and let the robots do the dirty work for you.

Once you've got your stained glass shapes you'll want to get your Con'Tact paper ready. I rolled it back the opposite way and let it sit with some rubber bands, however rolling it across the table with some weights will help relax the curling too. If you know your size/shape go ahead and cut it out front and back. If you're unsure you can cut a rectangle of approximate size and build on it/trim it as you're working. The front you'll want slightly larger (about .25 inch or 5 mm beyond each edge) than the art so you can wrap it around the edges. The back you'll want slightly smaller so you're not worried about going beyond the border, but still close enough you'll be able to stick the back on the front. For complex shapes you might want to just trim it in place (front and back) when you're all done. That's what I did with Link's shield.

Step 2: Prep: Apply Your Black Border and Shapes

Peeling the Con-Tact paper can be a little tricky. Like I said, leave some extra beyond the border so you can wrap the front around to the back. You're going to be looking at it from the back while you're making it, so you'll need to think mirror images. Feel free to pick up the paper and look through it from the front to make sure everything is going as planned. At the end of this step you should have all your black border and images in place, and be ready to apply colors. If you're waiting until the next day or until school's out you can put the backing back on with the shapes in place so it doesn't stick to anything, and nothing sticks to it.

Step 3: Apply Your Tissue Paper

Put it on in any shapes or patterns you'd like, its your project! Don't worry about overlapping. You can go beyond the edges on the back to be touching the borders (try not to bleed over into the other areas). It will be unique to you and have your character. This is the most fun part especially if you're a kid (or a kid at heart). Once everything looks perfect there's one more step before you're done.

Step 4: Finishing the Project

Ignore the picture. We ran out of Con-Tact paper, so we didn't have enough to wrap the edges on this one, but you'll want to wrap the edges first from front to back so that the back Con-Tact paper can hold it all together in place. The picture, however does show how you can leave much of the backing on while you're positioning it, and applying it slowly from one edge to the other. This will help ensure it lies flat. As shown on Link's shield you can optionally just trim the borders off too.

Step 5: Celebrate!

Look at what you've made! Hang it proudly in the window for all to see! Hopefully you filled up as much time as you were hoping for with the kids (if not just do it again - they'll love it, and be excited for another go). This (unlike so many of my other projects is one I hope to see lots and lots and lots of creative wonderful designs in the comments below.

If something is a head scratcher or too long/wordy please let me know, and I can change this description up. Great Job! and thanks for reading!

Step 6: BONUS!!!

What's that you say? Bonus?!?

Yes - if you're hoping to see a how I made the Mario and Zelda shield look no further. I'm going to give you my step by step guide here all in one mega step.

The first thing you'll want to do is go and download Inkscape. This is a free open source tool (please support) that gives you many of the features you'd get with pro level software like adobe illustrator. You can actually grab any image from the web and have it convert it into an SVG for you automatically if you want to look that up (It's trace bitmap under the path menu). I get better results just tracing it though, and it doesn't take too long. You can use this for any project that you need a SVG for (blowing up a picture larger, getting a Cricut to cut out your picture, starting a 3-D model for your 3-D printer etc.)

First, what is a SVG? SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics. What that means is that instead of using pixels set to certain colors in a grid it uses math to make the shapes, and you can scale it up or down at will without loosing any quality. It's a tremendously powerful concept, and Inkscape is a tremendously powerful tool. We're only going to focus on a couple things. So, you're ready to start?

Paste your graphic you wish to trace into Inkscape
Zoom in on your object and select the Bezier Curve on the left hand side
Trace around your image (It doesn't have to be super precise - mostly catching the major shape or transitions. This is really an art form that you'll just have to practice knowing where to put all the nodes)
Select Edit Path by Nodes from the left hand side
Pull on the existing lines to make them more closely fit any curved areas of your image. You can double click to add extra nodes if you didn't make enough (or delete some if you made too many).
One thing that really helps your image is making sure the bars that tell your curves where to go are in a strait line at transition points so you don't get rough edges at every node (see the red dot by the bottom right node).
Continue doing this until you've traced all the objects in your image.
From there you can now delete your image (or move it away).
Now use CNTL-A to select all your objects in the screen, and open the scale menu by going to the top menu Object-->Transform... Then going to the right side and finding the scale tab under transform.
Set the object to the correct size you want (11.5 inch is max size for normal Cricut use) and hit enter.
You can set the width of your parts individually as a group by going to Object-->Fill and Stroke... then setting the stroke color and width to what you'd like (or fill).
Once you're done you need select everything again and to go to Object-->Stroke to path (and/or object to path if you've made any circles/squares/etc.). This is critical because it is what ensures that the Cricut software (and I assume Silhouette) can properly make the cuts. Right now it would follow one path down the middle of your border and we need it to cut around both sides. This is the trick you need to apply to get it to cut properly.

I've also included my files for Mario and Zelda if you just want to skip all of that and upload them directly into Cricut. You can see I did make a mistake. I should have merged my triangles. As it is they cut out each other.

Good Luck!!!