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We have been asked to cover 6-8 18"x 48" windows which run horizontally down a wall for a chapel in a hospital. They wanted me to do a temp. frost vinyl on them. I said I could and I would do a reverse design to give the privacy they need and yet still be presentable. I asked why temporary and they said they are raising funds to do stained glass inserts. So I got off the phone and thought.
Why etched Vinyl? Maybe I could do stained glass designs and have them printed on a translucent vinyl and as the funds came through each window design could be exchanged with the stained glass original. Any thoughts on Stained glass designs so that whatever I design the stained glass people wont say it cant be done. I have no resources on stained glass shops to talk to.
-------------------- Sam Staffan Mackinaw Art & Sign 721 S. Nokomis St. Mackinaw City, MI dstaffan@sbcglobal.net Posts: 1697 | From: Mackinaw City, MI | Registered: Mar 2004
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i designed all my stained glass projects on my computer...then i take calender vinyl and do the cut outs so i don't have to trace the shape onto the glass...stick the vinyl on, cut it...done with hardly any grinding. whatever you design though...keep it fairly simple. don't do any shape that can't be cut with a glass cutter. it helps knowing stained glass only because i know what would be a pain in the asss to cut so i would know what stay away from. for instance you don't want a skinny little piece with a 90 degree angle because it would be a bytch to cut. you also don't want huge pieces in there either because you need the solder to keep the pieces' strength. hope this helps.
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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I did a permanent faux stained glass sign for a pub, it had an existing electric sign that was made of individual panels for each letter. I use translucent vinyl and duranodic for the caning. Like Karyn said you have to think of what cutting the pieces would involve. A project book on stain glass would be a good reference.
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Karyn, if I come up with a design(s)depending if they are all different that a glassshop approves,would'nt that be more time consuming cutting for each window that many pieces? I think if I can push one design for all windows that didital printing would be the way to go. Thinking maybe a horizontal elipse in the center of each one with a different etched design may look nice.
-------------------- Sam Staffan Mackinaw Art & Sign 721 S. Nokomis St. Mackinaw City, MI dstaffan@sbcglobal.net Posts: 1697 | From: Mackinaw City, MI | Registered: Mar 2004
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Thanks Bruce, that will be a good way to show them what it can look like. I know the style I would like to present to them will be an old style pattern like in some of the cobblestone churches from way back. Thanks Again
-------------------- Sam Staffan Mackinaw Art & Sign 721 S. Nokomis St. Mackinaw City, MI dstaffan@sbcglobal.net Posts: 1697 | From: Mackinaw City, MI | Registered: Mar 2004
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oh it definitely would be more time consuming doing all different designs...cutting the glass pieces is all part of it. its not usually a fast process...that's why digital would be a good temporary solution til they have the funds for the real thing. you can't really compare real glass work to digital prints. its like comparing gold leaf to yellow paint. but from a distance its true...who's gonna know?
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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There is a franchise operation called Stained Glass Overlay or SGO that uses a technique similar to cut vinyl to give glass a stained glass look. I just visited there website and discovered a couple of things you might want to investigate. First they have some patterns on the site that you might be interested in for the chapel project. Second they have franchisees in Ludington and Muskegon. You might consider getting them to do the temp job for you or see if you can buy material from them and DIY it. This stuff looks a lot more like the real thing than a digital imaged print.
Good luck with this....it sounds like an intersting project.
P.S. Is that bridge really 5 miles long!
-------------------- Chuck Churchill, It's A Good Sign Inc. 3245 Harvester Rd, U-12 Burlington, Ont. Phone: 905-681-8775 Fax: 905-681-8945 Posts: 633 | From: Burlington, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Thanks Sonny & Chuck for the referances. I went to the jobsite to check out the glass panels for myself and to see how to approach it. Long behold it was totally different than what I was told on the phone. Not 6-8 18"x48" panels but 20 26"x34" panels stacked 4 high 5 wide all with 2" devider bars. Its the whole wall from ground up. This looks like it is going to be a fun project and I have a very good feeling that whatever I do on it is going to be the temperary panels. So I am going to approach them with a full mural stained glass concept, and then drop in the 2" devider bars between the glass on the drawing, showing them that from across the room it will be one big picture. Hope they go for it. Thanks again to all for the input. Sam
-------------------- Sam Staffan Mackinaw Art & Sign 721 S. Nokomis St. Mackinaw City, MI dstaffan@sbcglobal.net Posts: 1697 | From: Mackinaw City, MI | Registered: Mar 2004
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Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6720 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Oracal has a line of "transparent" vinyl ( not translusent) this stuff you can actually read the newspaper through... it has a really cool look on glass.
-------------------- Ken McTague, Concept Signs 57 Bridge St. (route 107) Salem MA 01970 1-978-745-5800 conceptsign@yahoo.com http://www.pinheadlounge.com/CaptainKen
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"A wise man once said that, or was it a wise guy?" Posts: 2425 | From: Salem, MA | Registered: Apr 1999
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