Color acts as one of the most vital components of stained glass design. Rather than paint or graphics, stained glass engages with light, both natural and artificial, and color changes are often influenced by where the design is situated and what time of day it is viewed. The process for finding colors that will look their best is something you need to think about before you begin designing your own unique work.
The Connection Between Stained Glass and Light
Stained glass color will look slightly different at various times of the day. A panel of stained glass set into a bright window with full daylight shining into the room will look slightly different than the same glass seen during a cloudy afternoon or in a shaded area.
This is one reason artists like to see glass pieces under a variety of conditions before deciding which colors and patterns they would like to use.
How Warm and Cool Colors Affect the Overall Look
In addition to simply deciding which colors will look great, it’s important to consider how the chosen glass will interact with the overall look of the piece.
Warm Color Tones
The hues most often described as warm are those within the red/orange and yellow color spectrum, and they often appear to create excitement and energy while standing out more than other colors.
Cool Color Tones
The hues most often described as cool, blue and green, as well as the color violet and its variants, are colors that typically help add balance and a sense of calmness to a piece as they also often add a sense of depth.
Neutral Colors
While often overlooked, neutral tones like plain white, clear and gray glass or textured transparent varieties, act as a contrast between the warm and cool color tones to help prevent over-saturation of color and create visual rest areas within more complex designs.
In order to make a well-balanced look, artists will use these three color groupings within each design.
Don’t Forget Texture!
One aspect of color and design that sometimes gets lost in the translation is the addition of texture to the pieces, and many stained glass artists who are learning to work with this unique medium don’t even consider this when selecting glass for the work at hand.
Ripple, clear textured and patterned glass all act a little differently on different colors and can completely change the way the final piece will look.
Textured glass, or glass with some sort of surface treatment is excellent when looking to add depth or movement to a design even when using simpler colors.
Consider Where You’ll be Installing or Storing the Artwork
While you will be designing based on colors that you like, you need to also consider where you will be placing the artwork. A piece of stained glass that is designed for a large sunny window will often have very different color choices than a piece of glass that is designed for indoor display or as a lamp.
When looking at an area with little natural lighting, a more brightly colored transparent glass can often be better than dark, rich colors and opaque glass can often work in brighter, sun-filled areas.
By thinking of location in this way, your finished art pieces will look as great as you intended them to.
Experiment with Color to Achieve Your Artistic Vision
Ultimately, color for stained glass designs is entirely your own preference. In fact, much of what makes the greatest designs so great are the experimental nature of the colors used. You will often find unique combinations are those that haven’t ever been used together before.
By using a variety of colored glass to see which works the best and creates the effect that you are going for, artists are able to develop their own personal style and artistic voice that sets them apart from other artists.
A Unique Color Choice: Light
What makes working with stained glass so much fun in this regard is the interaction between the glass itself and light is what allows stained glass art to create color from light instead of the other way around, giving each piece a new life in every sunrise and sunset while also making the glass art change in every season.
Using color is an art in and of itself for this unique art form that many artists discover to be the most rewarding part of the entire creation process.