Stained Glass Windows

Stained glass is coloured glass that is used to create decorative window designs. Stained glass is translucent, which means it lets some but not all light through. The colour of the glass projects beautiful patterns when light shines through it. It is a material that has been used for thousands of years to make decorative windows. The most familiar examples of stained glass are in churches and other religious buildings. Here are some examples:

How is stained glass made?

Stained glass is made by adding metallic salts during manufacture to add the colour. Traditional stained glass is held together by lead which is why it has the appearance of black lines between the glass.

In DT we can make a decorative object similar to a stained glass window by using modern techniques. An example is that a scroll saw can be used to cut a pattern out of sheets of manufactured board (MDF or Plywood) and the pattern filled with resin.

Lesson 1 task

Using the Stained glass window.PDF document attached to your google classroom, colour in the different stained glass designs to see what effect a change in colour has. If you have Procreate or other drawing app, you can use that. If you have access to a printer then you can print the sheet and colour the different patterns. If you cannot print but want to do in by hand then you can carefully copy the designs onto a plain piece of paper. Do as many as you can in the time and attach a photo of your work to the assignment on Google Classroom.

Lesson 2 task

Design your own Stained glass window. Draw it out and colour it on a piece of paper or using a drawing app of your choice. Do not forget the black lines between shapes as these are an important feature!