Stained Glass Blog: Stained Glass Painter

Here is some basic information for stained glass painters on paints and kilns.

The best suppler of glass painting tools and paint is Reusche Company. I get almost all of my stuff from them with some paint in a pinch from Standard Ceramic in Pittsburgh. The paint used in ceramic glazes is similar to the paint used in stained glass. I wonder if other local ceramic paint suppliers around the US may also carry stained glass paints.

I tried to find a deal on a Hoaf Speedburner kiln for years. It is a great propane based kiln that has no electrical hook-up unless you buy the optional automated shut-off system. With all cost involved in the size that I wanted, over seas shipping and domestic freight, it came out to $5000.00. I fell in love with this kiln when I worked for Pittsburgh Stained Glass. It has a quick turn around time on firing and was cheap to operate. I figured that each fire was costing them $.25 and it only took a little over an hour to fire a load of glass. I finally settled on buying a kiln of the same size from Denver Glass Machinery instead though for around $3000.00. It has a 220 electrical hook-up and the same hour turn around time on a load of glass.

You can use many different types and brands of glass to paint on. The best test is to try firing a piece of glass a few times in a kiln to figure out if it is stable enough for painting. Red glass from most domestic suppliers is the least stable color often turning orange or black when fired. Untextured glass is the best since it gives you a smooth surface to work on and allows you to create a faux texture with gray tones. I really prefer European glass from Lamberts or St. Just. Lamberts, a German company, has a great line of smoky colors, deep reds and purples (often appearing too brown from most manufacturers) and an awesome collection of flashed glass. Their flashed reds and greens are a must have. St. Just or St. Gobain, a French company, has some amazing blues and greens. Both of these companies have a huge pallet of colors designed for painting. For domestic glass, Spectrum has good colors in a reliable smooth glass and Blenko has a line of glass with nice tonal movement in one sheet of glass without being flashed.

light made solid

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Stained Glass Painter

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