Category Archives: Tracing

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Glass Painters – Would You Like to Dance?

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In the studio this week, we’re painting column after column for the tycoon’s stained glass skylights.

Our sequence is:

  1. Undercoat
  2. Trace
  3. Strengthen
  4. Flood
  5. Highlight
  6. Etc. etc.

In other words, the lines are put down in two layers – steps 2 and 3 – not in one go.

A column from the tycoon's skylights - undercoat and (copy-)traced only

A column from the tycoon’s skylights – undercoat and (copy-)traced only (strengthening comes next)

Now it isn’t mandatory to do this. It’s certainly possible to do the lines just in one go. Sometimes that’s what you must do.

And right now I just want to have a brief discussion with you about how to think about this question: whether to trace (with the glass on top of the design) and then strengthen (with the design on one side), or whether to trace and strengthen in one go …

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Live from the Studio – Day #5

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Tracing – how to hide the evidence …

This morning with our students, it was Gothic Revival / medieval faces.

After lunch – by way of contrast – gargoyles and other monsters.

And with all this detailed line-work, the following conversation was inevitable.

Be sure to read to the climax of this tale, because you’ll find a really useful tip.

Problem #1: “When your glass is on top of your design – as it is with tracing – it’s so difficult to judge the darkness of your lines. – And it’s also really difficult to register them precisely with the lines on the design beneath …”

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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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Practice,

Or "Why You Must Learn to Love your Light Box"

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Part 1 – The experiment

Day 1: spent 10 minutes cleaning and painting undercoats on 8 small pieces of glass, then 17 minutes copy-tracing 2 images [just 2!] before deciding other things were “more important” than painting glass. Felt bored and distracted.

Day 2 … Day 3 … Day 4 … Day 5 …

Day 32: began with 60 minutes practice on light-box – thick lines, thin lines, dark lines, light lines, straight lines, squiggles, spirals, signature, various symbols, anything! Was surprised to learn an hour had passed. Then spent two hours painting a complicated roundel from start to finish without a rest. Very focussed. Couldn’t be distracted by “necessity” of other tasks.

Big change in just over a month, yes? That’s what this post is all about. It applies to everyone who doesn’t paint glass every day.

Is that you?