Thursday, August 1, 2013

A garden window

 Some of you remember when I did windows in my guest bath and experimented with transparencies (here). I liked the effect so much I've been wanting to do it again. Finally the right idea presented itself and I got down to having some fun!
 
 The window got about 4 layers of paint with Linen Milk Paint on top to get the cracking effect.
As much as I'd like to say that was my plan all along, the truth is I couldn't get a base color that I liked. So I got 3 base colors.

Then I spent hours looking for images. I found these on Pinterest and they have been re-pinned repeatedly from Pinterest instead of the original page so now the link is gone. That means I don't know who to credit for the photos.  Here are closer looks at the images I chose.


I liked this one for the lushness of the garden.


The spring greens caught my eye here. I thought this image placed between the two others would ward of overwhelming pink.


 This is the image that got me going. It looks like brunch in fairy land and I want to be there.

I got perfect cracking with the paint. The window already had a few layers of its own before I added my layers so I had nice heavy (cracked!) paint against the glass.

 Perfection!

There was chippy perfection all over this window.

And, again, the finished project. It's hard to tell from my photos but the images have an almost 3-D look to them when placed behind glass.

How I did it. 
First, paint your window. Then find good images and print them on transparency sheets.

The more saturated the color the better for this project, for two reasons: the light shows through and transparency sheets don't take the ink like paper does. My first couple print-outs were washed out, to say the least.

Trim the transparencies to fit and using a clear glue, dot the corners and place them into the back of the window.

9 comments:

  1. Looks fantastic. I love the color and the pics.

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  2. Very nice! Love the aged look.

    Why are you still using squiggly words? I know you would get a lot more comments if you got rid of them. I had them once as I got a lot of spam so I downloaded Chrome and haven't had a bit of trouble since. You might want to check it out.

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    1. Whenever I turn off the word verification I get hit with spam, spam, spam and spam. Some of it has been offensive. I might try Chrome, though.

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  3. I love this, it is a brilliant idea!

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  4. I love this idea. Are you just printing out the coloured transparencies on your computer printer?

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  5. This is a fantastic idea – it looks great. It does concern me though that despite your efforts you couldn't trace the photographers. As a photographer myself, I use Pinterest to pin my work and others pin my work too – but this illustrates what could happen if a pin is repeatedly re-pinned. Pinterest... the never-ending dilemma...!

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  6. I have a love/hate relationship with pinterest for that very reason. The art is beautiful and it looks fabulous in your window frame.... perfectly old, like it's always been that way!
    catching you! thanks for sharing at CCC
    gail

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  7. This shows how a creative mind and skilled hands can make something beautiful out of an old window, especially for those who are looking for things they can do to their old windows. Your project is perfect, and thank you so much for sharing this! I bet there would be less old windows on the trash bins from now on.
    John @ Beach Windows & Siding

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