Author Archives

    Stephen Byrne

    Designer, glass painter, writer

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    Live from the Studio – Day #1

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    Tracing and strengthening – how to mix perfect paint

    It’s day #1 of an intensive five-day glass painting course for “long-haul” students who’ve travelled to our studio in Stanton Lacy (see my previous post for your nerve-jangling introduction and an absolutely breath-taking 90-second video).

    The story so far …

    Our students arrived two days ago to settle in and recover from their jet-lag. And today, refreshed, we went on a whirlwind and empowering tour of undercoating, tracing, strengthening and flooding – the foundations of traditional kiln-fired stained glass painting.

    Now … we promised you various tips and updates live from the studio.

    Today’s key tip is useful if:

    • You sometimes run into problems getting your tracing or strengthening paint to the perfect consistency; or
    • You teach glass painting and find your students adding too much water to their palette

    Interested? Then let’s get going …

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    Five Days in June

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    Unlike the Jesuits, we don’t need someone “before the age of seven in order to make them ours for life”.

    No, as seasoned instructors of glass painting, five days at pretty much any point in someone’s adult life – provided they are fit and mentally well-balanced – will give us enough time not just to eliminate bad habits but also to convey the foundations of tracing, shading, highlighting, working with oil, and silver staining.

    But make no mistake – it will be a tiring week. Not right for everyone by any means, because we focus ruthlessly on techniques, not self-expression.

    Also, because the studio is so busy, this is indeed a rare event: a five-day intensive course like the one that’s happening all this week.

    On the other hand just think what these people who have travelled 1000s of miles to spend five days working with us in the studio – just think what they will be confident to do when next Friday comes …

    Watch this. You’ll need your volume on as well …

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    How Do I Follow That … ?

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    OK, so last time it was Brigitte Bardot, Bill Haley, a broken-nosed bodyguard with two missing fingers, Henry Miller and – a pussy cat … and all this in a stained glass studio?

    So how do I follow that?

    I see that David – my fellow director and master glass painter – has left me with one Hell of a cliff-hanger.

    Which gives me an idea for your next video demonstration …

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    Exactly Who is the Design For? Or : “The Tale of a Terrible Mistake We nearly Made”

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    For ourselves (our egos)? Or for the client?

    OK, so imagine you come up with a wonderful idea for your client, and now you also worked it up into a gorgeous full-sized – maybe even full-colour – design …

    And the last thing you (you, a designer, an artist, a maker, a glass painter, a student – or however you see yourself) will want to do with this wonderful design is … muck it up and kick the !>@?! out of it, right?

    Yes, right. But also wrong. Because of course it all depends.

    Goodness me, yes, it’s hard to “wreck” a design. But sometimes that’s what you just must do to show you understand what’s needed.