Why are the patterns on the windows so beautiful in winter? Frosty pattern on the window with your own hands

It is difficult to find a person who would not admire at least once in the winter the view of frozen moisture on the glass. Amazingly beautiful frosty pattern on the window, it turns out, you can create with your own hands. And it's not that hard.

Anyone can try to make a simple or more intricate winter composition even inside the home: on a glass interior door, cabinet door or mirror. And for this, frost and moisture are not needed at all.

There are several ways to create at home. Let's try to figure out what is needed for this and what skills will be required from the performer.

Natural frosty pattern on the window

Winter stains on glass are, in fact, frost that forms under certain conditions on tree branches, wires and any other surface. This happens when the temperature drops below zero degrees. The moisture in the surrounding air freezes, turns into a solid state and settles in the form of ice crystals on the surfaces that have turned up.

The same thing happens with windows. The seemingly smooth glass actually has minor scratches and cracks. They contain particles of dust. Ice crystals that fall on this heterogeneous and uneven surface, especially when exposed to gusts of wind, form a unique frosty pattern.

Unfortunately, with the advent of the sun or heat, this beauty disappears. Modern plastic windows exclude the possibility of frost stains. Their double-glazed windows are reliably insulated, they mist up a little from the inside and do not allow freezing of the internal space.

But how can you stop an artistic person who wants to create a frosty pattern on his window pane in the summer? Of course not!

frost pattern: imitation

If there are no two main factors - moisture and glass cooled to a negative temperature - the occurrence of natural frost on the window is impossible. Having learned the reasons for the formation of frost patterns, you can try to create them in the summer.

Chemical reactions of crystallization of certain solutions come to the rescue. Known methods for the formation of imitation of frosty patterns using magnesium sulfate (other names: magnesia, bitter or can be used for these purposes (also known as antichlorine, hyposulfite, photographic fixer).

These chemicals are non-hazardous and can be purchased from drugstores or chemical stores and, with minimal safety requirements, can be used for decorative purposes to mimic a frosty pattern.

You will also need brushes for drawing a picture, you can use cotton pads, a sponge or other items suitable for this. To speed up the evaporation of moisture, it is convenient to use a hair dryer.

chemical frost

To create a frosty pattern using magnesium sulfate, you need to dilute 50 mg of this substance in 100 g of beer and draw stains with a brush on a cleanly washed and dried window with this solution. After drying (you can speed up the process with a hairdryer), magnesia crystals will appear on the surface.

Another version of the working solution: the same magnesium sulfate, but boiled water is used instead of beer and a tablespoon of diluted gelatin is added. A brush, sponge or rag swab is used. The solution is applied with chaotic and chaotic movements on degreased glass.

Frosty patterns on glass using sodium thiosulfate are formed after the evaporation of moisture from a working solution prepared from 40 g of this substance dissolved in a glass of water. The chemical pattern in this case will be white, denser, opaque, reminiscent of snow.

The technique of creating a drawing is selected individually. After several trials, certain skills can be developed. You need to try to depict frosty stains, "feathers", curls, impromptu snowflakes. The solution after an unsuccessful attempt can be easily removed with a damp cloth and repeat the creative process again.

Wood glue

Previously, in Soviet times, frosty patterns on glass were obtained using the surface. It was necessary to remove the gloss from the surface, process it to a light dullness with sandpaper or sand with an abrasive. The bottom line is that tile or granular wood glue soaked in water and swollen with hardening dries out, wrinkles and shrinks in an unpredictable way.

If such a composition, heated to a fluid state in a water bath, is applied with a layer of up to 3 mm to glass treated to a haze, then in a day it will begin to dry out. The composition stuck to the surface, shrinking during the hardening process, will form a network of unique patterns. After completion, the crumbled particles are carefully swept away with a brush.

Glass for such frost should not be chosen thin, otherwise it will simply be bent and deformed by the tension force of the drying wood glue. The working composition is applied to a flat horizontal surface and left for a day.

Such a frosty pattern remains forever. Wipe from dust and wash the glass after exposure to wood glue should be careful - the sharp edges of the pattern can injure the skin.

painting with toothpaste

Not everyone decides to paint window panes, arguing that they lack artistic abilities or unwillingness to wash windows of paint. But with the help of such material, easily washable drawings can be obtained. Frosty patterns with toothpaste are safe, this technology is available even to children.

Glasses after unsuccessful creative processes are easy to clean and even shine better after that. And creativity can be limited to just a simple spray of dissolved toothpaste from a spray bottle.

The main thing is to make up your mind, and having understood the simplicity of the idea, you can try to paint the glass with a brush (preferably with stiff bristles) in the style of frosty frost. Smears are applied, starting from the corner and moving towards the center. To simplify, you can keep a suitable image of a natural frosty pattern or any abstract picture on hand.

by template

For people who don't want to paint but want to decorate their windows with fake frost, there's an easy way to create DIY frost patterns. A stencil with a ready-made composition will be the best solution for those who have never taken a brush and paint in their hands.

You can buy a template with a picture in a store or make it yourself. This will not be difficult if you do not immediately set yourself the goal of simulating realistic winter divorces. You can download the composition you like from the Internet, but it is better to draw it yourself, especially together with your child.

You can start with a simple snowman, a simple image of a Christmas tree, various animals, ornate stars. After transferring the pattern to thick paper, the contours are carefully cut out. The template is applied to the glass or glued with adhesive tape and a solution of toothpaste diluted to a creamy state is applied.

If you add a little watercolor or gouache paint to it, you can get more opportunities for implementing ideas. For application, use a kitchen foam sponge or brush. You can use as a background as a stencil not only a sheet with a cutout, but also the image itself, applying a coloring composition around it.

With a small child who is used to tasting everything, you can arrange a fun drawing. Frosty patterns can be made completely safe if you use powdered sugar to create them.

It can be attached to sterile glass on an adhesive base of honey diluted with water, sucrose, fructose or any tasty syrup. If the baby really likes the result, he can even eat home-made frost patterns.

The stencil is applied to the washed glass, an edible adhesive is smeared, then ground granulated sugar is applied with a powder puff or a soft powder brush. Even a child can do this. The safety of the exciting process is observed, the kids will be delighted. And they can safely taste the drawing after removing the stencil.

artificial snow

There is another easy way to create frost on any surface. A frosty window pattern using a stencil can be applied quickly and easily with artificial snow. It is better to choose a can with this composition from the category of non-melting flakes.

For a better choice of winter composition associated with the New Year holidays. Snowflakes and all sorts of fairy-tale characters acting in winter will do.

Glasses are washed and wiped dry so that no condensation or wet stains remain. Shake the can of snow thoroughly before use. The sides of the template should fit snugly against the glass so that clear frost patterns can be obtained. It is better to attach the stencil with tape.

Spray the composition from a distance of 15 to 40 cm, depending on the desired effect of frost density. After applying the snow, its excess is removed with a dry cloth, the stencil is carefully removed.

Snowflakes for windows

A frosty pattern on glass is not necessarily an ornate unique pattern. For many people, a simple snowflake on the window is a symbol of winter and the New Year holidays.

You can start creating frosty patterns for children by making homemade paper masterpieces. Any paper can serve as a material, but napkins have traditionally been used for this purpose. They are already folded into four layers. It remains to make one more diagonal fold, so that this is the middle part of the snowflake, take the scissors and start creating.

You can cut out the pattern according to the templates or come up with your own pattern. Knowing in advance what will turn out for a snowflake is quite difficult. Only after removing unnecessary details and unfolding the paper sheet, you can imagine and understand how this or that intricate pattern turned out. Snowflakes can be decorated with glitter, or you can cut them out of foil.

Everyone can make frosty patterns with their own hands, the main thing is to want it, highlight and spend a little time and effort. Mood, impressions and positive emotions are guaranteed.

Every winter, you can see magnificent patterns on the windows that the frost has painted. They are very diverse and intricate, mysterious and simply magnificent.

How are ice patterns formed on glass?

The air in the room is much warmer than outside, and the humidity is lower. But near glass, sometimes the temperature can be below the dew point, that is, the value when the steam begins to condense into dew. Small ice crystals form and ice drawings appear on the window.

Why are ice patterns always different?

Because the conditions inside the room and outside are changeable: temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed. Even the thickness of the glass and its purity play a role.

First, frost patterns form on the surface of the glass, and when their thickness becomes so large that the removal of heat to the outside slows down, then ice patterns begin to grow in thickness.

"Plant" patterns appear at high humidity and a gradual decrease in temperature. First, the glass becomes wet, and then the moisture freezes, forming bizarre "thickets". The process starts at the bottom of the glass as more water collects there. Yes, and the picture there is larger, and towards the top it becomes smaller.

If the cooling process was fast, and the moisture did not have time to drain down the glass, then the “woody” pattern throughout the window will be the same size.

Window panes cannot be perfectly even and smooth; they almost always have minor defects and scratches. They also contribute to the formation of another frosty pattern. First, ice crystals appear along the scratch, forming a strip, and then curved stems begin to branch off from it.

Since the frosty patterns on the window appear under certain conditions, it means that if you change them, the glass will remain clean. Lower the air humidity or prevent the glass from cooling too much (make a good thermal insulation of the window) and Frost will not draw anything on your window.

Winter has a lot of symbols that at one glance at them remind us of clear cold days, the sun sparkling on snowdrifts, daring games and fun in the fresh frosty air, and more ice patterns on glass.

What kind of masterpieces you will not see on the inner surface of the window when it is cold outside! People with a developed imagination, and even simple observers, see winter painted landscapes and ornaments that can cover the entire surface of the glass or creep in from the corners, framing the view from the window. There are spruce branches, and snowy plains, and thickets of fern, and pine forests, and what the bewitched viewer of the winter patterned creation does not yet dream of.

In fact, all this beauty is a natural manifestation of physical phenomena. The main participant in the process is water, a well-known combination of two elements, hydrogen and oxygen (H 2 O), which is famous for the fact that it can take on its three incarnations: solid, liquid and gaseous, within the external environment with a slight, in the general chemical concept, change temperatures from 0 to 100 degrees.

When there is moisture in the air and the temperature drops below zero, the moisture gradually condenses on the cooled surfaces. I immediately remember how in the heat all kinds of bottles cooled in refrigerators sweat invitingly. When the temperature is above 0, water vapor transforms into a liquid, but when it is lower, passing the liquid state, it becomes ice, or rather its tiny crystals. When the room is warm, any moisture that is near the window glass, behind which it is cold, turns into micro-ices, falling on the exposed surface. With this, everything is clear, but where do such unique and diverse patterns come from?

Each glass is not perfectly clean: it stores dust particles, small scratches, touch marks, all kinds of “traces” of environmental influences. The moisture that gets on the glass is also not distilled. Therefore, regular ice crystals with six faces, which are formed in laboratories, cannot appear on glasses. Crystals grow along the edges of surface microcracks, around dust particles and other inclusions. A film of moisture, even a very thin one, tends downward according to the laws of physics, therefore, ice formations are always denser in the lower part of the glass, and more openwork and patterned at the top. The direction of air flow at the glass surface also matters. While there is not too much water, the curls are thinner and more delicate, with an increase in the amount of moisture that has settled on the glass, the crystals begin to grow not only on the plane, but also in volume, covering the pattern with a dense white veil.

Some scientists even came up with the idea that all the universes of nature obey identical laws, i.e. the way chemical crystals are formed, the cells of living organisms are formed and lined up according to the same principles. That is why some of the glass patterns resemble primeval rainforests. Well, scientists cannot do without a flight of fancy, because this served as the beginning of many discoveries.

It remains only to note with some sadness that modern double-glazed windows, which are proud of their constancy of temperatures, no longer make it possible to enjoy the artistic painting of frost. But they say that our famous lace makers from Vologda and Kostroma took plots for their extraordinary fine work of lace, glancing at the frozen window in winter ...

This master class was born quite spontaneously, and the work was done literally in the evening. In general, not very complicated, but incredibly sweet, and looking at her, you want to smile and believe in a fairy tale.

Let's get started. There are not very many photographs, and the main thing here is materials for creating frosty patterns - Maimeri Body Painting Gel and Snow White Glitter(I have Rayher, such as in the photo, only completely white, without any color overflows).

Everything is clear about glitter, so I’ll tell you about the gel. This is actually a texture paste that retains its volume and becomes completely transparent and glossy when dry. It can be tinted, but you need to apply it in a not very thick layer, no more than 3-4 mm, and it dries for a very long time if it is a thick layer (a very thick layer may not dry inside at all and remain white). But we will apply it in a very thin layer :)

So let's get started.

Master class on decoupage paintings with frosty patterns

1. We take an ordinary frame with glass, my backdrop turned out to be cardboard, but it’s even better.

2. We print a suitable picture on a regular office sheet of paper ( laser printer) - I have Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden, very cute and kind, not funny, not comic, but just like real ones, surprisingly there are not many such pictures on the Internet ...

3. We have already arranged the picture so that the position of the heroes in it is how can it be behind an ordinary window on the first floor of a village house, so to speak:) I.e. I need to the faces were not on top, but closer to the center of the picture.

We see that in the position we need, the picture from above does not reach the border, and we need to glue it so that the difference is not particularly visible. Alternatively, it just had to be printed, placing just below the sheet of paper to glue the entire sheet.

But you can do it this way: I cut off the top edge and slightly thinned it with tape: I stuck a strip of adhesive tape on the edge, pressed it firmly into the paper with my finger.

Then I just peeled off the tape along with the excess paper.

4.Glue the picture to the cardboard backing. I didn't even primer - why? The office sheet is thick enough, if the image loses in brightness, then quite a bit.
Soak the sheet in water for 5 minutes, put it on a file, blot excess water. We smear thick glue on the cardboard and the sheet on the reverse side, attach the file with the sheet to the cardboard and remove the bubbles from the center to the edges. Everything is like with a napkin))) Laser ink (or rather, powder), rather fragile, it is better to work with them through a file. Top can also be smeared with glue.

Cardboard from moisture can be deformed, then after drying, you can put something heavy on the cardboard so that it dries in a straight position. But we still need a slight bend :)

5. After drying we varnish our picture and cardboard. Painting on the missing parts- some sky and yellow around the flashlight. I did not paint on very carefully, the main thing is that the white background and cardboard should not be visible.

6. Take a little medium or any means to increase the transparency of acrylic(I have a medium for flowing effects Plaid), you can take drying retarder mixed with varnish. We add a little bit of dark navy blue (not ultramarine!!! I have this Navy Blue from Maimeri with a drop of black).

We are getting translucent dark black-blue paint. We take a little on the sponge and from the edges to the center we begin to make night in our picture.

Do not forget about Santa Claus's flashlight, darken only what will be in the shadow, including the right half of the face of both heroes. Just imagine, they are standing in front of you, holding a flashlight a little ahead of Santa Claus and to the side of the Snow Maiden. What will be in the shade and what will be illuminated by weak light? It is not necessary to achieve absolute plausibility, part of the image will not be visible at all.

Almost finished.

7. Covering the picture matte(!) Varnish, if you don't want to add anything else. I also put some gold on the earrings of the Snow Maiden.

8. Degrease the glass (I washed it with dishwashing detergent). Again we take a little medium and add a little white there. We matte the glass from the edges to the center - with a sponge with a drop of our mixture, we smear it from the edge to the center. The middle and just above the middle (where the faces will be) are left untouched. This will add opacity to us where transparency is not needed. It looks like this (I just started, as a result, everything should be matted at the edges strongly, and towards the center and faces should smoothly fade away):

9. We dry. flip the glass, and on the other hand we make frosty patterns.

We take body painting gel, lay out a slide on the palette and add a drop of blue and white paint, mix thoroughly. Take a bristle brush and apply test smears, waiting for drying. Our task is to make a white-bluish-transparent mass, which, after drying, corresponds to the color of the frosty patterns. This is difficult because the gel itself is white in its pure state, and the colors are distorted due to this whiteness. What it will be like when it dries, it is impossible to say right away, so samples are needed. Just add paint little by little, I have in this mass blue and white about 2-3 square meters. mm.

You can dry the samples with a hair dryer, they dry quickly. When the color suits you we begin to apply to work with short strokes, like twigs. You can take a picture and the Internet for the original. Bristle brush leaves textured strokes, it is not necessary to apply a very thick layer, and a thin one too.

By the way, in some places you can just pierce bristles, holding the brush vertically: there we don’t have patterns, but just frost. So we paint all the glass from the edges to the center - completely! We work quickly so that it does not have time to dry.

10. And now... we erase our patterns with our hand in the place where the faces and the edge of the lantern will be. It is not necessary to clean the glass completely - after all, when we erase the frost from the glass, it remains in some places. And immediately fall asleep all the glass with sparkles, they stick to the wet gel and freeze on it. Our gel retains its texture and shines glossy, and we see exactly those twigs-patterns that we drew. Everything shines differently from different angles. Amazing effect!

While it dries, we are engaged in the frame: I applied bituminous varnish on it and began to erase a little from the protruding parts. It turned out such an old wooden window. She applied shellac on top (according to the instructions, bituminous varnish is coated with shellac). Shellac gave a slight yellowness, the wood became warm :) But you could just paint it with acrylic, lightly rub it and cover it with matte varnish.

We insert glass, for it - cardboard. The cardboard is slightly bent, and the picture does not adjoin closely to the glass - this is good.

Knock Knock! We approach the window, erase the frost with our hand - and there ...

Pictures can be enlarged - just click on them :)

Under normal lighting:

And it's possible like this:

I’ll tell you a secret - from the back I dug through the cardboard in the place of the flashlight to the paper, put a little putty there (there is more at the edges of the pit, so that the degree of illumination smoothly decreases), and glued a small flashlight onto the adhesive tape ...