Stained Glass Poppy Votive Tutorial

How to make a stained glass poppy votive

Here's a fun little project that would make a lovely teacher or hostess gift for the holidays.


SUPPLIES:

• glass jar (recycled or purchased)
• modge podge--gloss finish
• scissors
• paint brush (1/2 inch flat brush or similar)
• tissue paper in red, orange, light blue, navy blue, 3 shades of green (lighter is better)
• small candle

1. Using red tissue paper, cut out approximately a dozen small ovals about 1.5 inches or so in diameter and several elongated triangles as pictured. These will be the poppy flowers and buds. Using the paint brush, brush a thin layer of Modge Podge on the glass--it will go on white and dry clear. Lay down one of the ovals and paint over the tissue with the Modge Podge. Make sure to completely cover the tissue paper, going over the edges and smoothing out any bumps in the tissue and any globs of Modge Podge. Arrange the poppy flowers and buds going around the glass about half way up. Some can be a bit higher, some lower. Vary the arrangement--some flowers can overlap a bit, etc.

 2. Using the light blue tissue paper, rip it into small pieces, roughly an inch or so in size. Going around the glass, using the same technique start laying in the sky. Make sure to completely cover the top of the glass all the way up to the rim, overlapping blue over blue as you go. Carefully cover the spaces around the poppy flowers with blue going about half way down the glass.

 3. Using the 2 lightest shades of green tissue paper, rip it into small pieces as you did with the blue. Cover the bottom half of the glass, going in and around the poppy flowers making sure to go all the way to the bottom of the glass making sure there are no clear spaces left.

 4. Using the dark shade of green (or two if you have them) cut up long, skinny stems. Going around the glass, place a stem for every poppy flower and bud, making sure stem goes all the way to the bottom of the glass. Curve the stems or cross one over the other.

 5. Using red and orange tissue papers, rip up some small pieces. Going around the glass, add some extra layers to some of the poppies and buds with red and orange. Think of it as painting with tissue paper--these layers will add extra dimension and shading when the light shines through.

6. Using the navy blue tissue, rip up some tiny oval center shapes and place one on each poppy.

7. Go over the entire glass, smoothing out any globs of Modge Podge and painting down any bits of tissue what aren't smooth. Make sure you have covered the entire glass with color.

8. Let it dry and you are ready to place a small candle inside.

4 Ways to Hang Art

My advice for how to hang art is... to just get on with it! 

Modular Art

So many folks seem to be paralyzed with fear that they are going to do it "wrong" that they wait forever while their precious pieces collect dust in the corner.  There ARE some helpful rules and tips to get you started but the main thing is to just get your art up on the wall where it belongs and where it can bring you joy.

To get you started, I've outlined four ways to hang art from traditional to eclectic. For additional information, check out the resources at the end of this article and you can see a ton of inspiring photographs on my pinterest board: how to hang art.  

And my other advice? Have fun with it!



1. Traditional
 
There is nothing like the drama of a single, bold piece of artwork hanging over the back of a couch. 

It can pull a room together with color or provide a pop of color in an otherwise monochromatic room. My advice for what artwork to choose is simple: Forget what color your couch is or what style of furniture you have--pick a piece that your LOVE.  

Pick a piece that speaks to you, that will bring you joy, that you will want to come back to time and again.  

That's it. 

a splash of color brings drama to a monochromatic living room 

A few rules: if you are hanging just one piece of art over a piece of furniture, make sure it is big enough. About 2/3 the width of the furniture is a good rule of thumb (but always there are exceptions). Most people hang artwork too high--usually 5 to 9 inches over the top of a couch is a good height. The 57 rule is a good thing to keep in mind, especially when you are hanging artwork throughout a room and you want it to be cohesive.  The idea is that you hang the center of all artwork at eye level (57 inches being the average persons eye level).  Apartment Therapy has a good how-to article here.


2. Salon Style
 
Salon Style refers to hanging art in groupings--from modern, geometric grids of artwork to paintings hung willy-nilly from floor to ceiling. My favorite example of this is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.  Stewart was an American socialite and major patron of the arts.  Her home, now the museum, has hundreds of paintings and artworks that Stewart collected over her lifetime.  One of the stipulations of her will was that nothing be changed--so when you visit you see the artwork just as she arranged it.  She had a wonderful and sometimes eclectic way of arranging her collection.   I highly recommend a visit when you're in the Boston area.  The blog Design Formula has a great post with ideas on how to arrange art in groups. 

The basic rule is to create some sort of visual order to the group. You can do this by picking a theme, a common color in all of the pieces, or by creating unity with the same color frames. See some photos here. 

a grouping of bachelor button paintings for a nursery

3. Shelve it!
 
A good way to display a collection of small pieces of artwork is on bookshelves. For cohesiveness, pick a theme--say a collection of floral paintings or seashell artwork. Have it tie in with books and other items on your bookshelves.  

In my studio, I like to display some of my tiny woodland and landscape paintings on a shelf with my collection of Louise Dickinson Rich's novels about living in the remote woods of northern Maine.  This idea also works well on a fireplace mantel. Try layering smaller pieces in front of larger ones.  See a lovely floral collection on shelves here.

woodland paintings with Kristina's Louise Dickinson Rich collection

4. Eclectic

My favorite way to display work because you can bring in the unexpected and a heavy dose of personality. Mix and match things you love and arrange them to tell a story.  

I love to paint peonies every June--I now have a collection of my own peony paintings and vintage prints I have collected along the way. Peonies remind me of both my grandmothers. My maternal grandmother who lived with us when I was a child and with whom I spent many hours as a girl working in the gardens and my paternal grandmother whose stunning peony garden was a gift to her from my grandfather--a tough, hardworking woodsmen who lovingly tended flower gardens for decades as a gift for his bride. I created this art display in my home with a mixture of peony paintings, prints, photographs and vintage hats that also remind me of both grandmothers.  

Put together a collection that tells a story.

How do you display your art?  Does yours tell a story? I'd love to hear from you.



Resources



Pinterest board: How to Hang Art
Apartment Therapy: Salon Style Display
Design Formula: Make a Picture Collage
The Examiner: Why Art Galleries and Collectors Hang Works "Salon Style"
Apartment Therapy: How to Hang your Artwork and not screw it up
Apartment Therapy: How to Hang Art in Groups
Redbook: How to Create a Wall of Art
Modular Art: mix and match paintings to hang together


Services I offer

Help with hanging art: I'm happy to come to clients home (in my area) and assist in hanging/arranging artwork.

Unsure how a piece will look?  Send me a photograph of your wall and a list of paintings you are interested in and I will arrange them in the photo (using Photoshop)--this is a great way to take a painting for a test drive. Try it!

Contact me here for more info.

How to make origami holiday lights

Continuing in my how-to theme of magical holiday decorations: I present origami holiday lights. 

These are so lovely on a tree (or really anywhere for that matter--I had them strung in my studio year round for a long time). They are a huge family favorite at our house.  We even gave them as gifts one year and made them assembly line style with kids and grown ups folding away.  Once you get the hang of the folding process, it will go quickly. We got it down to folding a box in about a minute.

Origami Holiday Lights

You will need:

origami paper- the pastels prints look the best. Here is a good source.

string of mini-white lights - we have a string of 100-lights on our tree. You might want to do less if you are making them as gifts

You will need the pattern for the origami water balloon or water bomb.  This page has very clear directions.


Fold your papers in the water balloon shape--blow them up per instructions and insert each balloon over a white light (there is a small hole that will fit over the light).  You might find it easier to put the white lights on the tree and then put the balloons over the lights. If they get squashed, just blow them up again and smooth out the creases. We've had ours for 6 years or more and they're still going.

What holiday decorations are a favorite at your house?