On Tuesday we launch a new course called Illuminate.
I’ll say more in a moment. Right now, I hope you’ll watch this 70-second clip from the lesson where we take you through the do’s and dont’s of flooding:
- Flooding – the darkest paint of all.
- Flooding – for silhouettes and blocking in.
- Flooding – which easily bubbles and blisters in the kiln …
So how do you avoid those ghastly blisters which wreck your work?
3 tips to avoid blisters
After the clip, we’ll focus on 3 tips to stop your flooded paint from blistering when you fire it in the kiln.
See if you can spot what they are:
So the first point is:
1. Work fast
Work fast. You must work fast because you don’t want the paint to dry on you. If your paint doesn’t flow, it’ll very likely blister when you fire it in the kiln:
Next …
2. Mix often
In fact, mix your paint each time you load your brush:
And the reason you do this is, your paint is always separating into its constituent elements – water, gum Arabic and pigment. If the gum is thick in one part, thin in another, your paint will very likely blister.
And finally for today …
3. Spread far
You should spread the paint as far as you can. This isn’t meanness. It’s just because the paint mustn’t be any thicker than it needs to be to block the passing light. If your paint’s too thick, it’ll very likely blister:
So spread, spread, spread.
Spread it till you see the occasional flicker of clear glass through your paint.
More about flooding
There’s lots more to say about flooding. And Illuminate is where we say it.
Illuminate is an 8-part foundation course in stained-glass painting – the key techniques, so flooding of course, and also:
- The undercoat
- Tracing
- Strengthening
And – how to highlight.
Launching Tuesday
Enrolment opens next Tuesday.
The first lesson appears two weeks later on Tuesday October 11th.
Then a new lesson every Tuesday till December 6th when we round up the course with a Q&A webinar.
UPDATE: learn more here
Who Illuminate is for
Illuminate will serve you well if:
- You’re new or fairly new to glass painting, or
- You want to revise the key techniques, starting again from fundamentals, because you haven’t painted for a while.
If this is you: we hope you’ll join us on this journey.
UPDATE: enrolment is now open – learn more here
Inside Illuminate, this bird is scheduled for the lesson which students will receive on November 29th