For kids who are interested in the cosmos, make these stained glass space suncatchers from… plastic plates!

I enjoyed experimenting with my stained glass paints, and I wanted to share the experience with my young artist. The only problem, the stained glass paints we had were oil-based, and so the activity could become messy very quickly. In order to contain the mess, I thought of using clear plastic plates instead of plastic sheets. The edges wouldn’t let the paint escape too easily.

The theme we picked for our suncatchers? Why, space, of course! With a boy who dreams of building spaceships, it’s an easy choice.

Try our other suncatchers:

• heart suncatcher
• butterfly suncatcher
• shamrock suncatcher
• egg suncatchers
• leaf suncatchers
• unicorn suncatchers
• Christmas ornament suncatchers

Materials You’ll Need For Space Suncatchers

• clear plastic plates (you can really use any clear plastic containers – plates just provide an easy way to cut circles later on)
• Pebeo Vitrail stained glass paints (blue, purple, pink, white and golden were the primary colours)
• white acrylic paint
• pipettes & brushes

How to Paint with Stained Glass Paints

As it turns out, these paints start drying very fast, so if you want an even finish, you will not want to meddle around with the surface after about five minutes. You can use a brush for spreading the paint around, but I found that it works better to simply tilt and rotate the plate around a little, letting the paint flow naturally. It wouldn’t work for everything, but it gives a nice effect! Use pipettes for transferring paint to the surface. You will need a few, because you won’t have time to clean pipettes while applying the paint – plus you will need mineral spirit for cleaning whatever you get the paint on. Keep that in mind when choosing clothes!

Drip some paint into the plate.

As soon as you get all the colours onto the surface, pick it up and start turning it around slowly, allowing the paints to flow and mix.

Use a brush for helping the paint spread around.

Let the paint dry overnight, then sprinkle some white acrylic paint diluted in water with a brush on top, for stars.

Cut circles of different diameters!

Watch the Video

Space Suncatchers

It’s fascinating to observe how suncatchers look in different light conditions.

With the light shining through and casting a colourful shadow on the wall…

When you try to use a suncatcher instead of sunglasses and point it directly at the sun.

Now, just at the sky…

All of these can be observed through the window we decorated with these cosmic suncatchers!

Also Try These Techniques

Paint space with watercolours the easy way!

Or with acrylics?

Thanks for reading!