My grandchildren are not old enough yet to be let loose with my stained glass (can’t bear the sight of my grandchild’s blood !) though I’ve promised 6 year old Isobel she can make a suncatcher when she’s 7.
Having met someone at the weekend who was wearing a fused glass pendant on which her daughter had painted a figure I thought that was indeed something Isobel and George could do.
I plan to ‘prep’ the glass to be used (by grinding the edges so they don’t cut themselves) and then let them loose with some paints.
I’ve only done a bit of fused glass painting as yet - I have 3 glassline bottles and 3 writing tips. Can’t get on with the tips at all as I just cannot get any paint through them. If I squeeze hard enough it comes over the edges And they are an absolute pain to clean.
I generally use a cocktail stick to paint.
Questions -
Why don’t the tips work for me
if I use them how on earth do I clean them
What sort of brush do I need - I have a thin one but the
cocktail stick still wins hands down
Is there a better alternative to glass line
If anyone has any answers or advice I would appreciate it so Izzy and George can decorate their own coasters when I see them next week.
PS: I also have a good set of Pebeo Vitrea - oven bake glass paints which I use when I need to paint my stained glass. Does anyone know what would happen if I fully fired these in my kiln as i have a full range of colours in these
Sorry can’t help much as I don’t get n with the glass line paints either, what I tend to do is squeeze some out onto a spare bit of glass and then use a thin paint brush to paint onto the glass using the spare piece as a palette so to speak :).
I wish there was a alternative to glass line which actually came in pen form, good luck with it and I hope they enjoy whatever you decide to do
I’ve not had a problem getting the glassline paints through the nozzle, just getting it to go where I want it to go on the glass, but then I have that problem with paintbrushes too! Are the tips clogged? You could try taking them off and soaking them in water like you would a clogged fountain pen, I’m fairly sure it’s a water based medium.
If you find a cocktail stick works well for you why not try other things along the same lines, like a kebab stick or a blending stump? Personally my favourite drawing implements are pieces of greyboard
I’m pretty sure your pebeo glass paints will just burn off in the the kiln.
ETA - maybe it’s an air bubble problem with the glassline paints? Try standing them upside down for a bit before you try to use them?
Helen thanks very much. It may be my hands which don’t always squeeze things as well as they used to which is why I was checking if it is just me … probably. I just wanted to give the children an easy option. xx
Oh they are really rather gorgeous, aren’t they? I might have to invest in some pretty colours!
I think the trick is to get it started, it flows ok once you’ve got it started. I have tried glassline chalk as well but I obviously wasn’t doing that right as it just disappeared completely in the kiln. Or maybe I fired it too high.
I used to do a thing with my kids where they would decorate digestive biscuits with those tubes of writing icing, have you done that with your grandchildren? If they can do that they can probably do the glassline paints too!
Haha, Helen, that’s so funny! I’m like that with knives and needles - pricked & cut fingers are just an occupational hazard to me and I generally have one needle-prick healing somewhere…
Joy, it sounds like your grandchildren are going to have a lovely time!
I do a lot of glass and painting on china I always use pebeo glass paints and a paint brush. I can’t use those that squeeze out of a tube but then I can’t use a piping bag to pipe icing lol
Pebeo paints only require baking in a normal oven to make them ‘fast’ they don’t require a kiln.
So once you have your piece of glass ready to paint you’ll only need to paint it then place it in your domestic oven.
