Church auction item: stained glass window nitelite

I’m working on a few items to include in the biannual dinner auction at our church, and I thought people might like something based on the church building itself. Our church has some gorgeous windows that were done about 80 years ago. I particularly like the two that are situated in the loft in front of the organ, as they both feature musical instruments. So I took photos of them, corrected for perspective in Photoshop, and printed on matte adhesive film in a color laser printer. I cut an acrylic insert for my LED nitelite and engraved the backside to give the light something to bounce off of.

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That came out gorgeous! Nice to go with the actual photo/artwork, rather than recreating and coloring. This is so much more realistic.

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Awwwwwesommmmmmeeee

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That turned out great.

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Great! I did cling-film prints of the windows in our church, but it never occurred to me to try led-acrylic. May I ask where you obtained the light itself? I see some night lights that look similar, but wondered how difficult it is to remove the included acrylic piece.

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Unbelievable result! I never would have thought printed window cling would look like actual stained glass…but it does! :grinning:

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We’re awarding you the Internet today - you win it for cleverness.

Really nice results.

It occurs to me the technique could be used for preservation efforts. The Catholic Church in the state is consolidating parishes & closing and deconsecrating churches. I expect it may be happening elsewhere.

Many of them were built long ago with incredible architectural and stained glass. It always makes me sad when one closes and the windows are sold and disappear. It would be really neat to put together a collection of windows through digital captures and providing a way to get miniature replicas. This technique is perfect (LED optional).

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That’s lovely!

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Whoa! I’m just glad you didn’t individually piece that together. Really great results!

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These look like ones I have found at Menards. Three screws and the cover comes off. Only thing is sizing the acrylic. The thinner acrylic isn’t quite thick enough and the thicker acrylic isn’t quite thin enough. I engrave away a layer of the base to thin it out to fit the slot.

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Simple and beautiful. The printing looks so much more vibrant and clear than I would have expected.

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The ones I used were these, but they are no longer available:

Solar Lights Outdoor, Costech Ultra Bright 90 LED Solar Motion Sensor Lights Outdoor (4 Pack) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07212RVVH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_WFoICb271ZDZM

However these look exactly the same so I’ll probably get them when I reorder:
DEWENWILS 4 Pack Plug in LED Nightlight with Light Sensor, White Glow for Kids Adults Room, Hallway, Bathroom, Kitchen, UL Listed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HWKEKM4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_OHoICbKVAT7AD

The ones I used fit perfectly with the 1/4” cast acrylic that I use (Chemcast), no adjustment needed. However I did design an engrave section for that area if needed. I thought I would try the Inventables Lucite light guiding acrylic that I have a sample of, which is a little thicker so it needed the engrave, but I actually got a lot less light out of it and didn’t like the result as much. I think I needed to fiddle with back engrave settings more to get a whiter engrave.

Oh, one other thing: those goofy LED lights used triangular screws so I had to get a set of screwdrivers to open them up.

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The domino effect - inexpensive night light leads to purchase of new type of screwdrivers which leads to changing design and producing new screwdriver storage…

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What a beautiful night light! Love it!

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