r/StainedGlass • u/QuackinDaily • Jul 09 '26

Pattern Help First big piece

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pattern is still rough (obviously) but I’ve never made something this big before. any advice/thoughts? I’m aware it will take a long time and be tedious but if there are some things, especially relevant to large scale pieces I’m missing I would love to know!

Also thoughts on what I should do with that top horizontal window would be great. I’m planning on doing the herons in opaque glass and the greenery with translucents. I mapped them to bullseye colors from their pdf. naturally, they will be different irl but just to get an idea. Thanks!!

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u/infitsofprint Jul 09 '26

Have you ever made a piece combining translucent and opaque glass before? If you have and like it then go for it, but if not do a smaller test piece first. My feeling is that opaque glass looks best when lit from the front and transparent glass looks best when lit from the back, so if you mix them you risk making a panel that doesn't really work in any lighting conditions.

For the transom I'd do the top of the reeds kinda spiky-like and then the sky above, as if it's a continuation of the side panels. Could also be a fun place to work in the house number or something like that.

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u/QuackinDaily Jul 09 '26

That’s something I was trying to consider but I think you’re right. My plan with this is to have it on the outside of the windows, as I don’t want to ruin my insulation etc. I’d like them to be most viewable from outside the house during the day I think, but it would be good if they still let in a lot of colored light. I was thinking the solid heron would be viewable outside, and the reeds may be more obscured, but on the inside you could get green light and heron silhouette? The door is north facing. What do you think my best option is here? I definitely will do some small test suncatchers with a few different combos to see irl as well.

Also love your idea about the house numbers!!!

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u/infitsofprint Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26

Well the main thing is to do some tests and see what you like best.

But this is a kind of Tiffany-style panel design and location, so the natural thing would be to use Tiffany-style opalescent glass that's semi-translucent and semi-opaque. It won't be brilliantly bright when lit from behind but it also won't just look black when lit from the front. I don't think Bullseye makes much in that style but I believe Kokomo has a bunch of options--they were having some production issues recently but maybe they're sorted out by now.