flying owl stained glass

Stained Glass Owls, and Flying Owl Stained Glass Nightlights

It is an ongoing process for me to try and develop my own owl patterns. For one thing, most of the ‘stock’ or free patterns of owls strike me as being either cartoonish or mean looking. Plus, I really want something of my own, something unique to put out there. Given that freehand drawing is not my strong suit (there’s a reason that many of my patterns start as photographs), this would be a challenge. I have spent hours searching for and looking at owl photos of various species to get some ideas, playing around in Photoshop with line drawings. Nothing was quite coming together.

stained glass owls
First owls made, first generation of eyes. trying various things to see what options work best.

And then one day, in a flash from some mysterious muse, I got an idea for a simple but recognizable owl face. I managed to create/draw a pattern in Photoshop for it. It’s not perfectly symmetrical but I actually like that about it. That adds a little bit of a sense of whimsy and uniqueness. I did the pattern in two sizes, a small and large, thinking the smaller size would be good as an ornament, especially. These faces, I made back in December and just realized I had not posted about them yet. The larger owl measure 4.5″ wide by 3.5″ tall. The smaller owl is 3.5″ wide by 2.5″ tall.

I’ve been experimenting with eyes, somewhat, securely gluing various materials and pieces into place because adding eyes *in* glass results in a lot more pieces, seams, and work, where the idea here was to be simple and recognizable. So I am using googly eyes on some, and flat washers with the pupils of googly eyes that I have cut free on others, and some small globs for the smaller owls. I think the washers combination will be the predominant way I will do eyes going forward but I may still use googly eyes when I am in a silly mood or they are requested.

The owl on the left has brass washers for eyes, and the one on the right has zinc washers.
The owl on the left has brass washers for eyes, and the one on the right has zinc washers.

From the creation of this owl face pattern, I recently had an idea to grow it into a unique nightlight pattern. Searches for glass owl nightlights turned up nothing along these lines so I was off and running. The goal was to create wings for the sides of the nightlight, creating the sense of flight. The small owl face from the previous design round was a good size to fit on the base. I modified the center piece of a standard night light backs patterns to allow for a better attachment of the face to the back and keep it securely joined. And then I developed a wing pattern to go on each side. The first two samples I made are a snowy/white owl and a brown owl. I am really pleased at how these turned out! I’ve since made a red and pink one by request and am looking forward to seeing what other color combinations I can try out. The glass on the nightlight is 6.25″ wide by 3.75″ tall (height does not include the night light base. With that, height is 5.75″).

Prices as of this posting (subject to change in the future – current prices will always be listed with photos in the gallery): small owl face, $10. Larger owl face, $15. Flying owl stained glass nightlight is $40. Shipping additional in all cases.

Perhaps more and different owls will also come along someday!

First two flying owl stained glass night lights, for a white/snowy owl and a brown owl.
First two flying owl stained glass night lights, for a white/snowy owl and a brown owl.