painting on glass

[debemerick]

I received a starter kit from “Hues 2 Fuse” – no-lead power w/ medium for painting.  I need guidance as to how best to paint with these– seems the 4 trials I have done do not “snap”- just sort of blurry and pale.  

As there is no “tooth” to glass to hold the paint – I have been unable to make it flow the way I expected it to– there is no flow so to speak—

I am about at the point of trial/lots of errors that I am going to sift right onto glass with no medium to see if colors will snap.

frustrated yet still experimenting to get paint down.

 

suggestions?

Debra

 

 

[Stephen Richard]

A little language problem here.  “Snap” does not really describe to me what you want – sharp edges, brilliant colour, etc.?  “flow” also gives me a difficulty.  Is this how it comes off the brush, how it lays on the glass, etc.?

More helpfully, you can look on YouTube for glass painting tutorials. Peter McGrain has a video too.  these can help both in consistency of the paint before applying.  (With no tooth, I would assume the paint would flow better than on, say,  paper).  If you have a medium, you should not need gum arabic, which helps paint flow off the brush more easily. 

The temperature at which you fire the paint can also have an effect on the brilliance of the colour. Firing too high pales the colour.  Of course with enamels you will never get the intensity of colour that glass gives.

You can increase the intensity of colour by repeated applications.

Also, it occurs to me that you may be using opaque colours rather than transparent.  The transparent allows more light through and colours the light rather than blocking and reflecting the light that opaques do.

 

Stephen Richard

blogs at: http://www.verrier-glass.blogspot.com/   and  http://www.glasstips.blogspot.com/

[debemerick]

Sorry for my idioms– yes– you are right – what I am looking/trying for is brighter- more definition-sharper.  “Flow” in my terms here is how it comes off the brush and across the glass.

Thanks for the you tube suggestion – and yes I am ordering a video/book.  I really enjoy learning new things but after a couple of tries on my own, its time to ask for help.

It has also occurred to me that the color swatches are on white glass

---

well I was trying on clear so there is not enough opacity to reflect colors I thought I was going to see.  I will try on white to see what I think.

Thanks for your reply.

debra

 

 

 

 

 

The ideals that have lighted my way time after time and have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth.

—Albert Einst

[Stephen Richard]

If you are going for reflected colour, you will never get the really bright effects you get from coloured glass.  Opaque paints are always duller than transparent ones, even when you fire them high enough to get a shine to the enamel. If the final piece is to be seen with transmitted light, the opaque enamels will block a large portion of that light and appear dark.  If it is to be seen in reflected light, the appearance will be colourful, but possibly not bright.

So my suggestion is also to play/experiment with different firing temperatures to see the results.  Try temperatures above the recommended ones to learn their effects.

 

Stephen Richard

blogs at: http://www.verrier-glass.blogspot.com/   and  http://www.glasstips.blogspot.com/

[debemerick]

I am firing a piece of white (really translucent white called “firelight” by Spectrum) that I painted on today– will see what effect painting on an opache background does—-

thanks for the suggestion of different firing times — will continue.

 

thanks

Debra

 

The ideals that have lighted my way time after time and have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth.

—Albert Einst

[rgilbert]

The work on this website is gorgeous– http://www.beautifulglasspainting.com/. Their work seems to jump off of the glass with vibrant colors. Their work seems to be more traditional, but they might have some additional insights into how to get the colors to pop.

[Author]

Posts