BASICS OF GLASS PAINTING

Greetings my dear friends...

I am as excited as you are to begin our journey into the delightful and exciting world of Glass Painting.

Glass painting is a very delightful and popular art. Glass painting is a relatively easy technique, but delivers amazing results. The best part about glass painting is that it is not a very expensive craft. So lets get started with the basics of glass painting. Once you have mastered the basic techniques of glass painting you will enjoy playing around with different paints and textures and creating your own unique designs.

You do not require any special tools for glass painting.  

The first step in glass painting, is to find a suitable piece of glassware and clean it with warm soapy water. You can find many items in your own kitchen like empty jam, jelly and coffee jars, glasses, bottles to start with. Craft shops have a lot of items like candle holders, vases, etc..

My favorite places to shop are Ikea, Micheal's, Walmart and Bed Bath & Beyond for they have a good availability of clear glassware.

Here is a list of the materials you will need -

  

Glassware that catches your fancy...can be a bowl, a plate, a vase, a votive holder. Make sure that the glass is cleaned in warm soapy water and completely dried.

An HB and a 2B pencil for drawing templates (with a fine point). A mechanical pencil works well too.  A good quality eraser, ruler and a compass, fine tip artist pen, masking tape,  and a pair of scissors. A few good quality artist brushes ranging from very fine to medium and a flat brush. Remember to clean the brushes immediately  after you complete your work. Water based paints can be removed with warm soapy water whereas oil based paints need to be removed with turpentine or thinner as recommended by the manufacturer. Foam brushes to cover larger areas or for a stippling effect.

Glass Paints - The wide range of paints available for painting on glass, makes it difficult to decide which products to use. The most important facts to consider when choosing glass paints is the color range, the transparency, the permanence, the price, the simplicity of application or a combination of all these factors. Glass paints  are available in both transparent and opaque colors. Paints that can be baked are more durable than air dry paints. If you are working on a decorative piece, air dry paints work fine. Pebeo Porcelaine 150, Pebeo Vitrail, Delta Glass Paints, Liquitex Acrylic Glossies, are few available brands of glass paints. I prefer Pebeo colors. These colors should be allowed to air dry for at least 24 hours and then can be baked in a domestic oven at 350-375 degrees F for about 60 minutes to make them permanent. I prefer to allow them to dry for atleast 48 hours. They are  100% dishwasher safe and food safe. These paints are non-toxic and durable enough to stand up to everyday use.

Glass paint markers are available for outlining designs on glass. Pebeo's Vitrea 160 line offers 18 markers (9 glossy colors and 9 frosted colors). I prefer to use the Pebeo applicator bottles with a metal tip.You can fill these bottles with liquid glass paint for fine lines.The metal tips should be washed in warm soapy water immediately after use.






These are the basic materials you will need for beginning your adventure with Glass painting.

Like with any other field of learning, however much knowledge or experience you have gained, you will never have learned enough. You will always come up with new techniques and ideas. I will share with you the tricks and techniques I have learned over the years and rest assured that I will be with you to help you pursue your passion.

So pick up your paint brush and transform the world around you.!!!!