Who this is for
Please read this if you’re new to silver stain or if you currently use stain with vinegar or water.
Why?
Because the information I’m about to share with you concerns using stain with different liquids.
With oil or glycol, for instance.
And if you don’t already know it, stain and oil/glycol will get you the best results for the least cost.
These different liquids will also let you trace, shade, blend and flood – things you just can’t do with vinegar or water.
“Tried what you said and it worked like a dream” (Judy A., Texas, USA)
That’s right: oil/glycol is better.
It’s also cheaper.
So, now that I have your attention, please read on.
“It’s so refreshing to find someone like you who is so open about techniques in the murky & mysterious world of glass painting! (Why does it have to be like that??!) Finding you has been like stumbling on a pot of gold” (Simon Morgan-Howard, Wales)
The price of stain
$80 for half-a-pound: mixed with vinegar or water, silver stain is expensive and difficult to predict. The dust is also bad for you
First up, stain is incredibly expensive. Anything from $160 to $350 a pound. Ouch! All the same, used properly, it’s worth it. It can make your glass gleam and shine like no other kind of fired paint.
Unpredictable
But second, stain is easy to get wrong, like when it doesn’t work at all, or (the opposite extreme) when it discolours your glass, which ruins it.
Yes, used with vinegar or water, the failure-rate is high.
Since staining is the very last thing you do, this means your tracing and shading is most likely put at risk.
Messy and harmful
Third, used with vinegar or water, it’s not just messy, stain is also time-consuming and hazardous to use.
The dust gets everywhere – also inside your lungs – and it takes ages to prepare a piece for firing in the kiln. (You must wait for the stain to air-dry, then laboriously and carefully remove it where you do not want it.)
And there’s more …
There are other problems too:
- With vinegar or water, it’s impossible to shade from light to dark
- It’s really hard to blend
- It’s impossible to mix and store a batch that works reliably for months and even years
- It’s difficult to apply it smoothly to a specific area; instead you end up applying too much, then picking it out and damaging your lungs with all the dust, not to mention all the stain that’s wasted …
- It’s unreliable because even if you do a test, you can’t then use the same batch to do your real piece
Silver stain is magnificent. But it’s sheer waste to stain with vinegar or water. I’ll explain which oils to use to produce effects like this, every time …
What a mess. What a waste of time and money. What a failure to achieve beauty.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. You can do things differently.
You see, information on the correct use of silver stain is scarcer than gold dust. In most books, you’ll be lucky to find a paragraph or two.
Even then, you’ll mostly be instructed in the use of water or vinegar, which as I’ve shown you is such a waste.
So we decided to remedy this poor situation. I mean, glass painters have been staining glass for the best part of 800 years. It seems a shame this knowledge should be lost.
And it will be lost if folks continue their unsatisfactory ways with water and vinegar …
That’s why we prepared an online course which sets the record straight:
You’ll learn:
- How to mix a reliable batch of stain that keeps for months and years
- How to find the best firing schedule for your own kiln
- How to trace with stain
- How to flood with stain
- How to avoid picking out and wasting dried stain ever again
- How to shade stain from dark to light
- How to blend two different kinds of stain together
- How to create textures in stain
- How to give added emphasis and body to your stain shading
- What you must do to preserve the smoothness of your stain shading
- The brushes to use, what to use to store your stain, what to use for a palette
But not just that.
This technique of using oil will also save you money on palette knives and brushes.
Stop wrecking your good tools
If you work with vinegar or water, this blender will rot. But if you use oil, you won’t have to buy a new one. Plus you’ll be able to blend your stain (not a hope with vinegar or water)
Yes, another problem with using vinegar or water is, the stain will rot your tools.
Nothing you can do to stop it because it always does, no matter how clean you are.
Always.
And unless you work with oil, you’ll need new ones every year.
New brushes, new knives. That’s added cost to you.
But not the way we’ll show you. Because the medium we recommend won’t dry, it won’t corrode your tools.
Problem solved.
Money saved.
“I wish I had crossed paths with you fellows back when I was just starting out as a painter. It would have saved me an enormous amount of frustration. Again, thank you for the truly useful information, and for making it available at such reasonable expense” (Terry Mominee, Evansville, Indiana, US)
Your guarantee. You have 60 days to read and watch. If you decide it’s not for you, you can have your money back at once, no questions asked.
“Thank you for capturing your studio’s experience on paper” (David T., Virginia, USA)
Afterwards, at any time, you can write to us and we’ll reply.
“Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. We know you are a very busy man, and we very much appreciate your taking the time to address our concerns regarding silver stain. We found your information very helpful, and beneficial to us at a critical time in my project development. Thanks to you and your excellent tutorledge, we were able to overcome this difficult aspect of the panel design, and move through to completion of the process. The results were as good as your advice” (Steven Whorl & Sherry Sonntag-Whorl, Florida, US)
Here’s the course:
Best,
P.S. Just one ounce (28 grams) of stain can easily cost you $15 – so it’s really important you don’t waste stain. Also that you don’t waste glass, you don’t waste time, and you don’t wreck your knives and brushes.
“Thank you so much for answering my questions about my problems with the silver stains. I can’t wait to experiment with your suggestions, and I have a couple of students who’ve been waiting for answers as well. So – again – my gratitude for taking the time to assist me (Lynne Rowe, Miami, US)