Hallelujah!

Earlier this week I posted a small piece of a stained glass window that used to hang in our church.  The church was renovated a few years ago and they just didn't want to throw away so much beautiful glass and so it has sat outside in the back of the church for 8 years!

Dirty and muddy but oh so lovely!  My good friend Carol sent me a text with an announcement in the church bulletin that they were looking for crafter's to try and do something with the windows and Carol very sweetly thought of me.   The funny thing is that I had just been thinking that I'd like to get more involved with the church and here an opportunity just drops in my lap!  (Of course, since then I've been thinking I need a million dollars and am hoping that will just drop in my lap as well... :)).

I belong to an online craft group and while I had been thinking of using resin to make either crosses or jewelry with the stained glass, I wanted to put it out the the creative cosmos on the craft site and see what ideas they came up with.  What an amazing group, jewelry, signs, garden stones are just a few of the great ideas they came up with.  A nice thing about having so much of it is that I can probably try all of their ideas!

First, I wanted to try resin.  I took a hammer to the window and broke it apart.  I put it in a paper bag first to protect myself from glass flying around.  Then I ripped open the bag and put it in a box so it wouldn't slide around.

Next, I separated the pieces and then started laying them out to see how I liked them together.

I purchased a circle bezel and the resin kit at Michael's (using a coupon of course).  A circle bezel is simply a jewelry base that you can decorate using resin or other materials.  Think of it as a flat bottomed frame that you can fill with whatever you like.  The resin is a liquid that you pour in while wet and it hardens to a rock hard finish that is completely clear.  Below is an image of bezels that I pulled from an Etsy shop called Ilovepaperkits. (https://www.etsy.com/listing/97690852/10-1-inch-square-pendant-bezel-settings?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product_listing_promoted&utm_campaign=supplies_low&gclid=CLPtjqO3sL0CFSqXOgodCS4AwA)

After mixing the resin and the hardener, following the directions on the box, I poured just a little bit into the bottom of the bezel to act as glue for my first layer.  I decided to line the bottom with some of the silver leaf that I bought for another project, making sure some of the leaf stood up from the bottom.  I then laid out the pieces of broken stained glass and then poured in the rest of the resin until it formed a slight dome over the top of the piece without going over the edge.

Silver Leafing the bottom of the bezel

Here is the finished piece!  I love it!  It has some air bubbles in it but for a first try, it's exactly what I was looking for!

I tried another one as well, only this time I added a small cross charm..Here are the two finished products together.  The resin makes it look like the glass is encased in a clear droplet of water and the colors really POP!

I've gone back to the craft group to ask them how to ensure no bubbles are in the final piece and received some great advice.  They are sort of like having Martha Stewart on speed dial!  My plan is to take these to the church to see if they like them and then start designing a Christmas ornament using the glass.

Have a wonderful week everyone, we are starting to warm up here in Virginia and the daffodils are starting to peek out of the ground - it's such a welcome sight after our winter here!  This week coming up I am starting my photography class - let's see if I can improve my photo quality!