If you look at the start of any beautiful glass piece, it always starts with a basic stained glass patterns. As crazy as it may seem, some artists just have no idea where to look for the right pattern to start their project. Stained glass designs can be created from just about anything. All it requires is some attention and a little pad of paper that you can trace it out on.

A quick and easy option is to go online and purchase stained glass designs from a glass shop that sells pattern books, but this is an expensive option if you are on a budget. You can find the motivation and inspiration you need through your daily encounters and from the beauty that surrounds you everyday. If you are lacking ideas, just take a walk around your house or outside to look for motivation. Perhaps your grandmother loves to quilt and has a variety of quilting books. They can make for a great pattern and sometimes borrowing from another art form can give you something a little different then you get in the same glass pattern books. You might even have some piece of art that is around your house that you might be able to convert into a stained glass piece. The key to a great pattern is something that will be relatively easy to trace and does not have parts that are extremely intricate.

After you have decided what you want to make into a stained glass pattern, you need to transfer that onto paper. If the piece you are tracing has some opacity, a light table will make this job easy. If need be, just get real close to a window so you can trace properly. When you're done tracing the pattern, you'll need to convert your pattern onto a couple of sheets of heavy paper. Save one of these in a file, in case you would like to reuse the stained glass pattern. You might even be able to collect yourself a great collections of patterns, maybe you can even give away your own uniquely designed free stained glass patterns The other paper should be color marked and cut into pieces so that you can begin cutting the glass for your design.

Don't get discouraged if you can't find the right design for the project you have in mind. Just take a stroll around your neighborhood for some inspiration and then create your own. It is very rewarding to be able to design your own pattern, then you know that the piece that you eventually will create will be truly unique. You need to keep in mind that a good glass pattern is just as important as all the stained glass supplies that you have in your shop.