Old Window Art

There are many tutorials and ideas for projects out there involving old windows. This one is a project I decided to do with an old window I got from work. I am a Glazier (meaning I work with glass) so we do window, door, and garage door installations. Any time you install you generally uninstall an old piece of whatever. So free windows are a quick commodity for me. I love origami and so I wanted to do a project involving the two.

Lets get to it!

For this project I needed (and if you desire to do the same you will need):

1. an old window; any size will do
2. tissue paper
3. a ruler
4. a hard, smooth surface
5. Methyl Cellulose glue
6. Exacto knife
7. and a sense of creativity to imagine what design or image you wish to create

Some of the other items that aren't pictured but that I did end up using:

• razor blade
• Modge Podge
• masking tape
• towels
• rubbing alcohol
• a sharpie
• glass cleaner
• and, of course, my wife's input ;)

You probably read through that first step and wondered "what the heck is Methyl Cellulose. Well I have a whole other instructable related to that so I will just put the link here and you can check it out:

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Your-Own-Origami-Paper/

Just as is demonstrated in my other instructable, we are going to use MC glue to create double layer tissue paper and single layer tissue paper perfect for Origami.

Time to clean that old window.

I ended up just putting it in the bathtub and with towels and water it cleaned up nicely. I thought soap would be needed but wasn't after all. Depending on the age and condition of your window you may need to clean more thoroughly. I then put a small "T" so I knew which end I wanted to be the top.

The only other thing I had to do because it was all over this glass was use a razor blade to remove hard water stains and some of the extra paint. It was fun to see how many layers, and thus years, this window had in paint :)

After cleaning the window and using a razor blade to scrap every inch, the paper was ready for cutting.

I wanted sea weed like strands so I cut 21 of them at 1cm thickness. Then I cut the rest of the paper into 11cm squares. It was a little bit of trial and error to get the size sea horse I desired but it was fun to fold them all. I finished using three different shades of orange but they are so identical you can barely tell.

It doesn't matter if you are painting onto this piece of glass, or doing what I am and gluing, you want to do some initial prep work to make sure it turns out to your liking.

I used masking tape to put every piece where I wanted and it was a patience builder for sure. I used masking tape because it isn't super sticky so I could remove it when I was ready to glue it to the glass.

Then I turned the whole thing over and used sharpie to outline every single sea horse so they would still be in the exact position I wanted. Quick tip: Rubbing alcohol gets rid of sharpie on glass super quickly and easily with a cloth or paper towel.

I was trying to figure out what kind of glue to use so I tested three different ones to see the results on a smaller piece of glass. Again glass is everywhere where I work so I have it all the time. The three tests were:

1. Super glue- it works well but leaves a nasty looking residue on the glass. There are certain super glues that work for this but I didn't want to take the time to go shopping and investigate.
2. Milk- It is crazy but whole milk actually works and it doesn't leave a bad film or anything. Dries clear.
3. Modge Podge- I looked up the question as to what glue to use very quickly on google and everyone said modge podge. I liked the end look so decided to go with this one.

After removing all of the little pieces of masking tape and gluing where they were it turned out just as I hoped.

Hope you enjoyed this instructable as much as I enjoyed making this project.