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I rely on free glass painting designs for most of my work. Most times I don’t copy them directly but create new designs based on the old ones or using part of them. Lets face it, many of us spennd quite a lot of time looking for free glass painting designs.
The video and article below give ideas on how to find designs. There is also a short bit about copyright and at the end, a look at two graphics programs you can use to alter the designs you find (both free of course).
Wasn’t quite sure where to file this article so I have put it in the materials section. Seemed as good as any.
Free Glass Painting Designs.
Glasspainting.co.uk
Well the first place we are obviously going to send you for free designs is our own website. In fact to “celebrate” this video we are adding 10 new large window/door designs to the site. Even if you don’t want to do a large piece you will find you can use smaller parts of these designs in smaller projects. (As I did with the leaded suncatcher the other week).
We have a nice selection of designs whilst not huge does cover quite a variety of topics. We will be adding to this regulaly over the next few months.
[Please note. If you are a member of our email list you get the occational bonus designs. In the next email we will be including both larger versions and “svg” formats of the latest 10 designs).
Google search.
Google search is a great place to find designs. Here are a few tips:
Use the image search, it is much quicker for finding designs.
Use specific key words followed by the actual image you want. Key words would be “glass painting design”, “Stained glass design”, “Line Drawing” etc. You would then follow this with “Angel” or “Unicorn”, “Flowers or “Kingfisher”. Whatever it is you are after.
“Childrens Colouring Pages” is a surprisingly good set of key words to start with. Again follow it with the specific item you are looking for.
Take notice of the buttons at the top of you search (between the search box and the images). These will help you refine your search further.
Specific Sites.
Over the years I have built up a collection of sites I can visit to find free designs. On some of them it can take quite a bit of searching to find suitable images as they are general image sites and many of the designs are unsuitable. (Too complex etc).
Here is a list of some of the sites I use:
- Free Clip Art Now.
- Open Clip Art.
- Free Images.
- Public Domain Images
- Free Vintage Illustrations.
- Clipartwon.
There are obviously lots more sites. Maybe you’d like to add your favourite to the comments section at the bottom of this article!
Just one more little tip here. I keep a folder on my computer desktop called “ideas”. Anytime I’m browsing the internet and come across a design I like I download a copy into the folder. (if I need to find out where it came from later I can use the Google facility to search by image). Every few weeks I go through the folder and see what ideas it inspires.
Copyright.
Copyright is important. I’m not going to go into it in depth as I’m not a lawyer but, particularly if you are selling work, then it is something you should research. I will say I have never got into trouble using copyright designs for items I’ve made for myself for my own home therefore it isn’t a bit issue for many hobbyist. It does become an issue if your work is going to be in a public place or if you are making items for other people.
As for our own designs, they are covered by copyright and we do have some restrictions on them. You can’t share the designs themselves either for free or as paid items. This includes both on and off line. However there are no restrictions on HANDMADE glass painted items you make using the designs. We are happy for you to give away or even sell items like this with our designs on. (no mass production is allowed).
Graphics Programs.
Again I am not going to go into this in depth. That will be for a future article. Having said that graphic programs are great for altering designs you find to suit your own needs. This can include adding or removing bits, changing the size, proportions or more.
There are lots of graphic programs out there but we recommend the following two:
| Good Points. | Difficulties. | |
| Paint.net. . |
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| GIMP. |
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Summery.
There are lots of great designs out there, the difficulty is findings among all the other stuff. Do try and learn a graphics program. Altering and combining other designs means you will be creating something which is uniquely yours.
Happy, Crafting.
