Lesson 7: Applying Paint and Etching Cream to Glass
Up until now we have only pounced paint into stencil openings, or, on special occasions and for special projects, actually stroked the paint, or sponged it. But with glass paints, you may find that you need a new vocabulary of paint application methods to get the best results. So in this lesson we'll tackle some of those strokes, as well as special techniques for loading the brush with more than one color. Then we'll deal with the special problems of transparent paint, and how to work best with it.
Since so many paints are a bit fragile on a hard surface such as glass they are often painted beneath the surface instead of on top of it - a technique called reverse painting which may be essential on certain types of glassware.
We'll look at etching - which is basically painting etching cream through a stencil. Applying it is only the least bit tricky.
And then I'll take a brief look at the biggest glass stencil of all - rubber resist, which is applied to glass that is to be sandblasted. You can actually sandblast in several overlays, giving the glass real dimension and sophistication - a far cry from the first time we dabbed a bit of paint through a single overlay stencil done in one color. But eminently doable if you have paid attention to the lessons so far.
But first, a general tip. Before you lay any kind of applicator onto any glass surface, you want to prepare it to accept paint well. Wash in hot, soapy water and rinse well. The wipe the surface you intend to paint with vinegar or mineral spirits (white spirits to you in the UK) to eliminate any grease from fingerprints, etc. Then you can start.
A New Vocabulary - Brushwork Part 1 - Loading
On glass, unless you can afford those really expensive $20 and up combination squirrel hair, goat hair and a soft synthetic in the bristles – your brush strokes are going to show. So it is important to carefully consider how best to swoop that brush around within your stencil for the most natural look.
NOTE: This is not a problem if you are using paints like Tri-Chem, that are designed to be flooded on rather than stroked – but to confine yourself to those paints means you will always end up with raised outlines and a sort of faux stained glass look. Somewhat confining when there are so many other options!
That's why your choices of brushes and applicators is so important. They really affect the look of your finished project. Not only that, but certain brush shapes allow for fancy brushwork that will allow you to shade and highlight with a single stroke. It all depends on how you load your brush.
Brush Loading
Loading the brush simply means filling the bristles with paint. In traditional stenciling we loaded the tip, then stroked in onto a paper towel to both force the paint up into the bristles and to remove any excess so that we were working with an almost dry brush.
In stenciling on glass, we work with a fully loaded brush. It's just that sometimes the brush may be loaded with more than one color.
A Brush mix means that you load the brush with one color, and then pick up just a small amount of a different color. You then stroke the brush lightly onto your palette to blend, and then stroke it onto the glass. This is like blending paint directly on the brush rather than mixing the two colors in a well of the palette before applying – much more economical.
For shading and highlighting, double loading the brush is one easy method to do both at once. Double loading generally requires either a flat brush or an angled one. Dip one corner into one color of paint, and the opposite corner into another color. Lightly stroke the palette back and forth several times before applying brush to glass. What you end up with is a distinct color at each edge, and a blend of the two in the center.
Floating color is similar. It is sometimes called side loading, corner loading or just plain old shading and highlighting. It is similar to double loading, except first dip your angled brush into a dilutant – water, if that is the preferred way to thin the paint you are using, or whatever diluting medium the manufacturer recommends. Tap the brush lightly on a paper towel to remove the excess. Now dip one corner of an angled brush (the pointed corner) into your paint. Blend the brush back and forth on the palette in one place until you can see the paint color moving across the brush to the undipped corner.
What happens is that the paint at the far corner will be highly diluted, while it is fairly concentrated at the dipped point. So when you apply it to the glass the color will run from deep to pale. Keep the strong color at the edges of your stencil opening, stroking smoothly but strongly.
Point Loading means first loading the brush with one color and then simply dipping the tip in a second color. The tip color will appear first and then gradually dissolve into the original color in the brush.
