I’m sure this scene’s familiar – it’s how your palette often looks before you start:
- Your lump of paint is under a small bowl.
- Your reservoir of left-over paint is under a larger one.
And your “applicator brush” – your hake – is clean and dry.
So yes, I’m sure you’ll recognise this sight:
Meanwhile, this is where you want to be before you start to paint:
It’s different: yes indeed.
Now your hake is a wonderful brush.
But it’s like a teenager: there’s a knack to waking it up and getting it ready for a day’s work.
A method …
Clean and dry
So your hake will start its day like this – clean, and dry as a bone:
And, to revive it – to wake it up – what doesn’t work well is this:
Maybe this won’t seem fair: after all, it’s fine to revive a tracing brush like this, by plunging it in water, then shaking off the excess:
But the hake is different.
It’s special.
You must handle it with care.
And in this video, I want to show you what we do.
Just please don’t do this …
… because drowning your hake can cause you all kinds of problems (it’s like screaming “Get out of bed!” at a 15 year-old).
There’s a gentler, slower, more effective way instead.
This method you’re about to see, it revives your hake and loads it.
It also helps you organise your palette:
How to revive your hake and organise your palette
(To download the video and play it off-line, click here.)
Effective – and fast
Now this video runs for five minutes. The reason is, I’m filming it and doing it step-by-step.
The great thing is, when you know what you’re doing, you can do it all in four three two.
Yes, just 2 minutes.
FAST!
My point is: it won’t take you long to “swap water for paint”. Not long at all. And what you get in return is: a revived hake and an organised palette.
Plus … perfect paint for undercoating or tracing with.
P.S. If you’re interested in learning more, maybe this foundation course we filmed will help you get where you want.
Steve, how do you get your brushes so clean? I try just with water, but it takes ages, and I don’t want to use chemicals that might affect the brushes.
It is just water I use. (You’re right to avoid chemicals – they might affect the brushes, or could indeed affect your paint next time.) I’m interested in figuring out why yours looks darker: I reckon the most likely explanation is, it’s a trick of the light, a trick of video – a slight over-exposure inside the camera(s) so you can see the paint. All along what matters most is that your hake serves you well: if it does (but looks darker than mine), no worries.
Dear Mr. Stephen: As always this video of your demonstrates in clear terms the way to proceed with a glass painting by organizing your hake & palette. The best part is that you visualize your painting tools as living beings in the process of hake being loaded with water & then paint. I would say you are doing a great favor to glass artist around the world by distributing your immense knowledge. My regards to you.
Thanks, Stephen, for this most recent video. I think watching a video (vs. reading the steps) really brings it out that taking the extra bit of time on each process helps to achieve a nicer result.
Hey Guys, Thank you for the “Wake the Hake” video. I like that you have not skipped time in this series of instructions. You have given us a visual time clock to drive home the value of thorough preparation of the paints and brushes. If you had fast forwarded the video, I feel that I might be inclined to fast forward the procedure, leading to a mediocre prep and a dismal outcome. Good going!
Thank you for reminding me of that.
Another great video. Can’t wait for the next one. Thanks.