Making Stained Glass

A technique by Liz Goldman, Maureen Rhowmine, and Beth Glos

Maureen's example

Get the layered PDF here (right click on Windows or Control+Click on Mac and Save Target As): maureen1.pdf

Method One: Clipping Paths

1. Open a new 500x500px file with white background, RGB color.
2. Get a photo to use for the glass pattern. L0-842, Sherry’s orange flowers we used for the butterfly in lesson 8, works well if you want something colorful. Drag it onto the new file and expand it to 500x500px so it covers the entire layer. Commit the transformation.
3. Play with the orange flowers layer to make it look like glass. I used the ocean ripple filter. There is a glass filter, too, but I find that the ocean ripple looks more like glass.
4. Make the background layer active. Turn off the eye on the orange flower layer so you can see the shapes. Make the foreground color something other than white. Get a shape tool and draw a shape on the background layer. (When I was doing the Kathy/Sidney example, I drew the Kathy shape first.) Then, choose the Exclude Overlapping Shapes option on the option bar, and draw more shapes, intersecting with each other and with the original shape. I drew Sidney second and then drew the balls from Kathy’s hand to Sidney. Finally, I put rectangles around Kathy and Sidney, and the two people shapes became cutouts. This is exactly what you did with the rectangles and bullseye exercise in Lesson 9, except there should be no style on the layer.
5. You will now have a white background layer, the shapes vector layer, and the orange flower layer.
6. In the path palette you will see the shapes as a layer 1 clipping path. Double click that and save as path 1. Make this path active.
7. Make the orange flower layer active. You will see the outline of the clipping path on the layer. Do LAYER>ADD CLIPPING PATH>CURRENT PATH. The orange flower layer will be clipped to the shapes--like it was to the butterfly.
8. Add a drop shadow and bevel and emboss to the orange layer. Now you should be on familiar territory!! Add metal.
9. Add a new layer above the orange layer. Put my copper layer style on that layer (or a style that looks like lead if you prefer). If the path is still active, you should see its outline around the shapes--be sure it is active and the new styled layer is active. Chose the brush tool with a hard 3 or 5 px brush. Go to the paths palette and stroke the path (stroke icon at the bottom of the path palette). This puts the copper around the shapes. The copper is actually on a separate layer, but you can’t tell this.
10. Play with the background layer. Put a color or pattern fill layer on it, or put another “glassed” photograph under the shapes. (Note: if you don’t deactivate the path before you add a fill layer, you will clip the fill layer--the problem everyone was having with the wicker under the bowl!). For Kathy and Sidney, I chose a solid color that went with the pattern. Play with the blending options on the orange layer--I think I used a bit of a glow--maybe both inner and outer. It is also nice to use a color on the drop shadow that complements the colors in the design. Put a frame on it if you like.

Method Two: Clipping Groups.

The steps are essentially the same up through step 5. Instead of creating a clipping path, you rasterize the shapes (vector) layer and this becomes a “real” layer with pixels. Then you “clip” the orange layer to the shapes layer. (With the orange layer active, do LAYER>GROUP WITH PREVIOUS or Ctrl G). It looks the same--the shapes have the orange flower pattern. There is a difference, however. If you want to add blending options, add them to the “clipped to” layer--the rasterized shapes layer. We used clipping groups for the Fly Free exercise from the last class, and this is what I’ve always used, because I’m just now learning about clipping paths!

Here are the links to the sites for three major authors of this technique:

Liz Goldman: http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/cgscdoc

Maureen Rhowmine: http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mrblake50 (Look in the Intermediate folder)

Beth Glos: http://photos.yahoo.com/windozer50 (Look in the Intermediate folder)

Making Multiple Glass, by Liz Goldman

These are the instructions for windows with more than two different kinds of glass. If you’ve not done any of these, you might want to start with the shapes tutorial above.

Think about the project this way: For the stained glass window you will need a pattern for the design, different sheets of glass (say three), a frame to put the glass pieces in, and the lead to hold the window together. I’ve posted an example of a Norman window that uses four kinds of glass and a copy of the frame for that window at http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/cgscdoc

DIRECTIONS

1. Open a new file with white background, RGB color. Choose dimensions appropriate to the proportions you want on the window.

2. Draw the pattern: make the background layer active. Make the foreground color something other than white or black. Get a shape tool and draw a shape. Then, choose the Exclude Overlapping Shapes option on the option bar, and draw more shapes, intersecting with each other and with the original shape. I find it easier to locate centers and draw the pattern out from centers (using alt and shift), rather than trying to draw the perimeter first.

3. You will now have a white background layer and the shapes vector layer. In the path palette you will see the shapes as Shapes 1 Vector Mask Double click that and save as path 1. Make this path active.

4. Now construct the frame: With path 1 active in the path palette, make the background layer of the image active and add a new layer. Label this layer frame 1, and make it active. Set the foreground color to black. Choose the pencil tool with a 3 px brush. Go to the path palette and stroke the path (stroke icon at the bottom). You now have an outline of the design on the layer named frame 1 (see my posting for an example), the shapes vector layer below it, and the background layer. You are through with the shapes vector layer now, and you might want to turn off the eye (or get rid of it). Make three additional copies of frame 1 and label these layers frame 2, frame 3, and lead.

5. Now make glass. Using my description from the previous set of instructions or Maureen’s and Beth’s excellent suggestions, make three different kinds of “glass” and arrange these layers between the frame layers. The stacking order for the image should now be background, shapes, frame 1, glass 1, frame 2 glass 2, frame 3, glass 3, lead. I’m not happy with the glass or the color combinations on my Norman window--Maureen and Beth have had much better luck with their glass.

6. Now cut out and arrange the glass in the frame: Group each glass layer to the frame layer below it (LAYER>GROUP WITH PREVIOUS or Ctrl G). All of the glass will disappear, because the frame layers are masking the glass layers. To get the glass in the sections where you want it, you need to put pixels in the proper areas on the frame. Make frame 1 active. For each section of the design that should use glass 1, paint in that section of the frame. The easiest way to do it is to click the paint bucket in the section. Usually it fills and you see the glass. If the section you are painting is very small, the paint bucket might paint the frame instead of the interior. If this happens, undo and use the pencil tool with a small brush to paint in the section. If you decide you don’t want glass in a particular area of the frame, you can erase the pixels there and the glass will go away. After you finish with glass 1, do the same thing for the sections that are to have glass 2 and glass 3 (of course, you can use as many different kinds of glass as you wish by adding more copies of the frame and more glass). If you want to put a bevel and emboss style on the glass, put it on the frame (the “clipped to”) layer.

7. Now put the lead in: Make the lead layer active. Put a metal style on that layer.