Glass Painting
The art of painting glass
Written by: Conrad Schmitt Studios
Conrad Schmitt Studios, Inc. designs, creates, restores, and conserves various styles of stained glass windows for both sacred and civic spaces. While there are various styles of windows, traditional and mixed styles often include painting directly on pieces of cut sheet glass. These windows include realistically painted figures within a lead matrix, often conveying scenes from the life of Christ in churches alongside classically styled architecture. The two main techniques used in painting glass are called tracing and matting. Tracing is used for outlines and contours, while matting is used for shading and blending.
Similar to other artist paints, glass paint consists of pigment suspended in a liquid vehicle. Glass paint is also called vitreous paint, as this mixture consists of ground glass and metallic oxides. These paints are mixed with a flexible palette knife, reserving brushes for paint application.
The painting begins with an artist tracing lines, using the cartoon, or full-size drawing, as a guide to establish basic shapes, like the contours of a head and facial features. These lines are generally black in color. In the Stained Glass Association of America Reference and Technical Manual, tracing brushes are also known as “rigger,” “scroll,” “script,” or “liner” brushes. They have characteristically long hairs and are pointed in shape. Other brushes could also be used later for filling in areas that have a thicker line weight. Once the paint is dry, the glass is fired at temperatures above 1000 degrees Fahrenheit to set the paint for additional layers. Glass must anneal, or slowly cool after firing to prevent any breakage. Different glass colors have different chemical properties, requiring specialized firing plans for each project during the painting process.
Brushes for matting and blending come in various shapes and sizes. Flat matting brushes allow artists to apply thin layers of color over a large surface area. Browns are often applied in thin, transparent layers in order to render shadows and highlights on figures. Blending brushes, made from soft badger hairs, help to smooth applied areas of color, which changes how paint is distributed on the surface of the glass. Artists work on light tables to examine how these added colors affect transmitted light. To make an area lighter or to remove color in select areas, scrub brushes are carefully used to remove dry paint. Scrub brushes are usually made of stiff, hog-hair bristles rather than soft animal hairs like goat, sable, or badger hairs used for matting and blending. Rags and other tools can also be used for reductive mark-making or erasure.
Stains can also be used to add color like glass paints and enamels; however, silver stains become a permanent part of the chemical structure to the glass. When fired, silver nitrate stains create a color range from pale yellow to amber, which could be used in traditional glass designs for golden halos and other accents. This process of staining is where the term “stained glass” originates. Ranging from transparent to opaque, various painted surface finishes on glass allow for a wide range of styles and subject matter.
Related Services For This Article: