5 helpful tips for stained glass painting

1. Float glass - which side do you paint enamel on?

Float - or window - glass has what is called a ‘tin’ or ‘tinned’ side and an ‘air’ side. This refers to the modern method of making sheet glass. Molton glass is floated on to a pool of liquid tin, where gravity and surface tension do their job to smooth and polish the sheets of glass.

It is the side touching the tin – the ‘tinned’ side - that you want to avoid when using glass paint, you want to paint on the ‘air’ side. The residue of oxides left on the ‘tin’ side is likely to adversely affect the colors of your stained glass paint during firing.

So how do you know which side is the ‘tin’ side? You can buy a short wave UV flashlight – sometimes called a Tin Side Detector – and look at your float glass in a darkened room. The tinned side will have a fuzzy white glow which you won’t see on the air side.

2. How do you get vibrant colors with glass paint?

The secret is to fire multiple thin layers of stained glass paint, rather than one thick layer. You have more control over your work this way, and you won’t risk the glass paint bubbling up, or becoming too dark to see through.

3. Increase depth of glass paint color by sandblasting

If transparency isn’t important, you can make your glass paint colors more vibrant by lightly sandblasting the glass before you apply the paint. The coarseness of the grit also makes a textural difference to the finished result. Normally one layer of screen printed transparent glass paint is a bit wishy-washy; sandblasting first makes the color remarkably strong.

4. I want to use glass painting on plates!

If you’re thinking of making tableware that has glass paint on it, it must, must must be lead free! Let the manufacturers know that you’re intending to make items for eating from, and they will point you in the direction of their lead-free ranges. These can either be transparent or opaque.

5. How can I save electricity and precious firing time?

By mixing your glass paint for your first layer with Damar varnish and distilled turpentine instead of the more usual water and gum arabic. It’s good for line work or printing, but not matting – unless you want to ruin your badger brush. Let it dry thoroughly – the varnish will harden - before applying a second coat that is mixed with water. This second application won’t disturb the first as it it water based, but watch out – there’s no room for error and wipings off – you have to be confident! You can then fire these two layers at the same time.

Glass painting
Detailed information on glass painting with enamels