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If you don't need glass, a cost-effective workaround would be to cut the pattern in a sheet of thin plywood, and use colored tissue paper for the glass panes. We built a light box so we could illuminate ours from behind, and it worked surprisingly well.

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Josh Kauffman
Teacher
Winfield AL
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We have been working on the Addams Family set for a 5 weeks now. We are just about done with creating our Stain Glass window. 

Its a combination of 3 things 
- Luan 4x8 sheet
- 2 inch flexible cork stripes
- colored cellophane rolls


In our case we mounted the the luan wall up in the house. The drew out the design for the window. Traced that with the 2 inch wide cork. We used both cork with adhesive and just pre-cut strips. 
The drilled pilot holes in the interior where the window panes are. The took Jig saw and cut out the windows pane. From the back side cut and glued the cellophane to the wall. 


I think it;s turning out very nice. Going to see if I can attach a photo for you to reference, 


Good luck.

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Ron Obringer
North Tonawanda NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-05-2019 14:01
From: Josh Kauffman
Subject: Stained glass windows

If you don't need glass, a cost-effective workaround would be to cut the pattern in a sheet of thin plywood, and use colored tissue paper for the glass panes. We built a light box so we could illuminate ours from behind, and it worked surprisingly well.

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Josh Kauffman
Teacher
Winfield AL
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I’ve done this except instead of tissue paper, we’ve used scraps of gel from our lights.

Sent from my iPhone

------Original Message------

If you don't need glass, a cost-effective workaround would be to cut the pattern in a sheet of thin plywood, and use colored tissue paper for the glass panes. We built a light box so we could illuminate ours from behind, and it worked surprisingly well.

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Josh Kauffman
Teacher
Winfield AL
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We've done stained glass for years using muslin and Rosco Supersaturated Paint.  The paint is made to be diluted and still not lose it's brilliance.  By watering it down, it become translucent when you paint it on the muslin.  Draw out your stained glass design, decide on your colors, and then paint directly onto the muslin.  Backlight it and you've got a remarkably realistic stained glass window.  What's nice about this technique is that you can get really intricate looks.  Our latest was the huge rose window in Notre Dame for our production of Hunchback a few years ago.  When the show is done--take the muslin off the frame, roll it up for easy storage.



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Ron Parker
Theatre Educator
Appleton North High School
Appleton WI
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-05-2019 14:01
From: Josh Kauffman
Subject: Stained glass windows

If you don't need glass, a cost-effective workaround would be to cut the pattern in a sheet of thin plywood, and use colored tissue paper for the glass panes. We built a light box so we could illuminate ours from behind, and it worked surprisingly well.

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Josh Kauffman
Teacher
Winfield AL
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Check out the Easy Ornaments at http://tobinslake.com/

I have purchased several different sets over the years ... including the stained glass windows. What's great is that after a show they can be taken down and saves and used on a future set.

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Toni Thomas
English Teacher, Theatre Director
West Branch MI
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Try hot glue and lots of gels. We used a wood frame and designed our own. Labor intensive but looked great!

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Elisabeth Ledwell
Falmouth MA
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I used plexiglass last year to make stained glass windows. I tested hot glue on a small panel and I found that it didn't stick and was hard to control the way I wanted to. I ended up using black painters tape from the art store to create the borders. I also used a gel gloss medium and paint meant for stained glass which was not cheap but worked very well and when thinned went a long way. The materials are available from Blick art supplies stores.

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Nancy Lomas-Reynolds
Director and Theatre Coordinator
Voorhees High School
Glen Gardner, NJ
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I have used vinal from a fabric store and painted/frosted it in the past, cut the shape from wood and attached to the back

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Jerry Onik
V.P. Theatrical Supplies and Equipment
Omaha NE
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We have used a variety of approaches: Frosted privacy film (Lowes) and markers: Cellophane (think lighting gel) and electrical tape: painted muslin flat ( photo)Peace and blessings!

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Tamara Plasterer
Artistic Director, Fine Arts Dept. Chair.
Padua Franciscan High School
Parma OH
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For any stained glass windows that we have done, we always used lighting gels to achieve the look. Looks great, especially when the light shines through them. For Footloose we created a 1x3 frame of a crucifix for the church and then added the gel pieces and about 1/2-3/4" strips of black gaff tape to hole the pieces in place as well as act as the grout.

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James Fry
Director of Student Life and the Malvern Theatre Society
Malvern, PA
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Yes,  I too have used lighting gels with great success.  I have also used colored cellophane, however you have to use multiple layers

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Matthew Phipps
Director
Wright WY
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-07-2019 07:04
From: James Fry
Subject: Stained glass windows

For any stained glass windows that we have done, we always used lighting gels to achieve the look. Looks great, especially when the light shines through them. For Footloose we created a 1x3 frame of a crucifix for the church and then added the gel pieces and about 1/2-3/4" strips of black gaff tape to hole the pieces in place as well as act as the grout.

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James Fry
Director of Student Life and the Malvern Theatre Society
Malvern, PA
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For my Agnes of God, I used 1/4 plywood cut in the pattern with gel for the color. I used a leko focused on Agnes through the "window" to put her, in her white postulate's habit, in an immersive splash of color. It was beautiful and really helped tell the story.

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Robert Smith
VA Co-Chapter Director
Retired
Centreville VA
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We taped a colored picture to the back of a piece of plexiglass, then outlined the front of the plex with black glue. Lit from behind, it worked fairly well.it worked fairly well. The black glue is white glue with black paint added.

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Jodi Improta
Fine Arts Department Chair
Fullerton CA
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We used black puff paint for the leading.  Once that was dry we colored clear Elmer's glue with food coloring and painted the insides.

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Cindy Skelton
Drama Teacher
San Mateo Union High School District
Burlingame CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-07-2019 20:42
From: Jodi Improta
Subject: Stained glass windows

We taped a colored picture to the back of a piece of plexiglass, then outlined the front of the plex with black glue. Lit from behind, it worked fairly well.it worked fairly well. The black glue is white glue with black paint added.

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Jodi Improta
Fine Arts Department Chair
Fullerton CA
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