Glass painting can be a worthwhile and creative pastime, as a result of which, subject to assiduity and accuracy, you can get beautiful jewelry and functional objects. Drawing a pattern on glass involves the selection of the product you want to paint, as well as the paint, pattern, application method, cleaning the glass and installing it on an even place, applying paint and, finally, drying the paint according to the correct method. The following steps will help you learn how to color patterns on glass.
For stained glass
Stained glass paints are a decorative material that is resistant to abrasion, not afraid of water and sunlight. Stained-glass paints allow you to decorate mirror surfaces, glass vases, dishes, photo frames, etc.
Before using a set of stained glass paints with stained glass, it is necessary to apply a contour that will prevent the spread of the coloring composition. After drying, the paints for stained glass are transparent. The stained glass varnish for drawing contour lines is most often included in the set of paints.
There are organic solvent materials and water-based paints that differ in their scope.
These water-based materials are opaque, their use resembles painting with oil paints. For application it is better to use a wide brush, and if the surface has a large area, then it is worth taking an acrylic composition in the form of an aerosol.
Fixer Application
When purchasing a set of stained glass paints, you should know that after applying and drying, fixing is necessary.
The universal fixative of any paints is varnish. But, in addition to this function, it is used as a solvent if the material is thickened, or when mixing paints. Porous surfaces are also varnished before painting, which makes it possible to make them smooth, simplifying the drawing process.
Stained glass paints have their own application technology. First you need to purchase:
- a set of stained glass paints,
- contours for drawing on a glass surface,
- ready-made stencils that you can make yourself if you wish,
- ethanol,
- brushes
- cotton swabs,
- toothpicks or a needle.
Before drawing stained glass paints, you should choose a pattern. You can take freely available templates and stencils for copying. Further, all work is carried out in stages and in a certain sequence.
Before painting the glass, degrease it with alcohol. If there is a talent and skills of the artist, then a pattern is applied with a marker. Otherwise, you can fix it on the back of the product or transfer it to the front side of the stencil through a carbon copy.
Each part must be carefully contoured to avoid tearing. Then you should wait for it to dry completely, the time of which is indicated in the instructions.
Stained-glass paints are applied by drip, and then distributed with a brush from the center to the periphery in an even thick layer. Errors should be corrected immediately with cotton buds, preventing the coating from drying out.
Having painted all the details of one color, rinse the brush thoroughly, wipe it dry and start working with a different shade. Stained-glass paints form air bubbles in their thickness, which can be eliminated with the help of a needle tip or a toothpick. To speed up the drying process of the finished pattern, you can use a hairdryer.
Acrylic coating
Glass painting with acrylic paints also begins with the degreasing of the work surface and drawing a picture on their own or with a stencil.
While stained-glass paints with their own hands are applied only to the figure processed by the contour, for their acrylic analogues this is not necessary.
If you make a contour, the image will resemble a stained glass window. And without using it, the pattern will be stylized as a painting.
After drying, items of kitchen sets need to be coated with heat-resistant varnish to increase their service life and preserve the colorfulness of the drawings.
It is worth considering the fact that decorative, heat-resistant water-based acrylic paints dry very quickly, but they require baking in an oven for stability.
Use of balloon coatings
Aerosol paints are most often used for painting large glass products, although professional artists also use them to decorate small parts. This can be done without having rich drawing experience, using stencils or construction tape.
In specialized stores you can purchase the following varieties of aerosol formulations:
- oil
- heat resistant
- acrylic
- latex and others.
Most often, spray paints for stained glass and other glass products have an acrylic base.
The production of heat-resistant aerosol material for processing certain types of dishes has also been launched.
The advantages of aerosol materials include:
- ready to eat,
- ability to penetrate hard to reach places
- good adhesive properties
- long shelf life without changing the quality characteristics,
- no application tools required
- resistance to abrasion and fading,
- rich color palette
- high drying rate.
Despite the abundance of advantages, spray paints have some disadvantages:
- the inability to dilute the paint with a solvent,
- sophisticated application technique
- mandatory use of stencils for drawing small details - this increases the consumption of expensive paint,
- aerosol materials of different colors cannot be mixed,
- use of personal protective equipment, such as goggles, a mask or a respirator, during spraying.
Using aerosol acrylic paints, you should strictly follow the instructions to avoid the formation of sagging and other flaws.
When decorating glass surfaces outdoors, you need to choose calm, calm weather.
You can fix the applied drawing with a transparent acrylic varnish.
Production of coatings at home
Despite the fact that the production of such materials for glass is at a high level, and a set of stained glass paints can be easily bought at the store, some artists prefer to make them on their own.
They are prepared on the basis of such an organic substance as gelatin, which must be diluted with BF-2 glue or clear varnish for furniture. To give the desired shade, dyes for the fabric are added to the mixture. They can be replaced with ordinary gouache.
If you are the first to create stained-glass windows with your own hands, then after applying freshly prepared paint, it must be fixed with colorless varnish to avoid washing off the picture with water.
Plexiglas painting
Before painting plexiglass, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of this process and purchase the necessary materials and tools.
First, the surface is cleaned of grease, dust and dirt using alcohol. Then the product is placed in a heated coloring solution of zaponlak for a time that is from 30 seconds to 15 minutes. This indicator determines the saturation of the tone.
After the staining process is completed, the glass is quickly transferred to a container of cold water until completely cooled. Next, wipe the plexiglass with a dry cloth or felt to give shine. If the color of the product is not bright enough, then it can be made more saturated by repeating the entire cycle from the beginning, after thoroughly drying the treated surface.
When deciding how to paint plexiglass, it is worth deciding in advance on the color scheme and the presence of sketches that are applied after basic staining using stencils and a paint brush.
Having decided to decorate your home with glass products painted by your own hands, it is worth trying various techniques and coatings, and then making a choice. In specialized stores, you can first take the materials of the basic colors for coloring, and then independently obtain various shades from them. And you can immediately purchase a set of stained glass paints and stencils so as not to limit the flight of your imagination.
