What you get

Intensive 1-to-1 training in a busy, working stained glass studio where you watch and practise core glass painting techniques – while real work goes on around you:

“… a superb experience: the best course I have ever been on” (Isobel Ackery, Sussex, England)

“… a remarkable time” (Svetlana Makarenko, Denmark)

How it works

1. Tell us what you want to learn.
2. Book your course.
3. Come here and learn.

Where you might come from to spend time and learn with us

People come to us from all over the world — from Peru, all over the USA, Israel, South Africa, Norway, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Holland, Taiwan, France, Kuwait, Singapore, Ireland and Italy.

The reason is, they learn a lot.

How you learn best

1-to-1, tailor-made training and demonstrations, one day or several. Plus you can watch and see what’s happening in a busy, working studio. This is a true-life experience where you see things as they really are … the designs, the glass, the work-in-progress, the paints and work-benches.

We’ll agree an agenda with you. We’ll provide the designs, the glass, the brushes, the space for you to work.

And all along, you’ll get the agreed and specific full-time instruction from one of us – Stephen or David.

The unique experience you get from us

Here’s what makes your time with us unique and valuable to you:

• We show you techniques. This means you learn the fundamental skills.You can then develop these however you choose
• You’ll always get the personal attention you really need. There’s no waiting for the “tutor” to get free from the queue of other people he must see before he sees you! We’re always on hand
• You concentrate on glass painting and nothing else. No lead-work or glass-cutting is involved. This means you’ll improve your glass painting at an astonishing pace
• We supply lovely designs and cartoons for you to copy. Together we’ll pick designs that you’ll love and which will also move you on. We have a huge number of designs for you to choose from, such as medieval heads, ornamental quarries, animals, and decorative borders
• We don’t have a “template”. This means you get the training that’s exactly right for you
• We are experienced teachers. We believe in teaching, but we don’t need to teach, nor do we over-do it/repeat ourselves. This means we are awake and alive to the things you want or need to learn
• We keep in touch with you afterwards — ask us questions by e-mail and we answer your questions with the best information that we have

If this sounds good to you, then come and train with us, and you will learn a lot.

Who this training is for

This training works best for people who have known us for a while.

So for example you’ve followed the blog or get the newsletter.

The reason is, you need to know what you’re in for when you spend time here.

We’ll do our homework. It’s also important you do yours .

The basic line is: you know the kind of people we are and the kind of painting we do, and we know something about you and your interest (amateur or professional) in stained glass painting.

We will teach you better when we know as much as we can about where you want to go.

You’re happy with a technique-based approach to learning (don’t worry, we’re actually very friendly!)

We want you to appreciate the importance of good technique, and it’s important you’re keen to improve your technique.

Also that you’re happy with a formal, structured offering from us.

You have good mobility in your upper-body. Also good eye-sight (with or without glasses).

The above points are all of them essential.

Who this training isn’t for

This is not emotional therapy or a healing exercise: it is hard work.

This stained glass painting course is not ideal for anyone in search of “play time” to express themselves or explore their artistic identity. These things are fine – but not these days you spend with us. At the end of your time with us, it’s important you do things hugely better than when you started. This is a question of technique. And technique is what we focus on with you. Technique.

You do need to be fit, mobile and emotionally well-balanced – this is a working stained glass studio, with stairs and all the usual hazards of glass, lead, kilns and stairs.

Plus we are hard task-masters – we will not indulge you, we will work you hard so you leave here confident and skilful.

Where

At the Williams & Byrne stained glass studio in Stanton Lacy, near Ludlow, in the county of Shropshire, England, United Kingdom.

To search by postcode (ZIP): SY8 2AE.

Here’s a map showing where the studio is in relation to Ludlow: See map of studio at Stanton Lacy and Ludlow

The cost

The cost for 1-to-1 teaching is £225 per day which includes 6 hours’ full-time teaching, your glass, your paint, firing, lunch and 20% VAT (sales tax).

Your travel to and from the studio, your accommodation and evening meals are not included.

How to book and pay

When everything is agreed, you can either pay by cheque or money-transfer. Or we can e-mail you a PayPal request for the complete amount: you then pay through PayPal (you don’t need a PayPal account to do this).

Your payment is your booking.

Terms

The training people get here is special. Everyone who’s ever learned with us has had a exhausting, technique-packed and fantastic time.

Because we want to continue teaching, we have these terms:

• We will ONLY accept your booking if we are absolutely confident we can do what you want
• Your full payment IS your booking
• Once you book, you can request different dates, but we cannot guarantee that we will be free to teach you then
• We reserve the right not to refund any portion of your fee if you cancel and we cannot fill your place
• We reserve the right to charge a 50% cancellation fee to cover our administration costs

Our terms exist to allow the 2 of us to continue teaching 1-to-1 with our devoted attention to your wants and needs. You’ve seen the testimonials on this page: we have a lot to give you, and, if you book, we expect you to turn up on the agreed date.

“You are both excellent teachers and as I suspected prior to my visit, you are both masters at running workshops which engage and adapt to the people there.” (Chloe Uden, Exeter, England)

Transport to and from the studio

The studio is in a tiny village three miles from the town of Ludlow.

If you want us to pick you up and return you to your B&B / hotel, we can do that for £5 to pick you up and £5 to take you back at the end of the day.

Accommodation

There are many different places where you can stay.

One option is: ring the Ludlow Tourist Information Centre and ask them to book you a suitable place. Their telephone number is +44 (0)1584 875053.

You also can search here.

Below is a list of different kinds of places.

Bed & Breakfast / Guest Houses (from £40 per person per night): The Mount (double en-suite and twin en-suite available from £45 per person per night), The Wheatsheaf – an old world pub in the heart of old Ludlow, The Hen & Chickens, nice place at 130 Corve Street, Acorn Place (highly recommended on two occasions), Cecil Guest House, The Merchant House, Henwick House, Branlea, Nelson Cottage. Also see Elm Lodge (highly recommended on two occasion) for self-catering or B&B.

Self-catering cottages and flats (by the week): Emily Place, Upper Linney, Balcony Flat, Ivy House, Frog Cottage, Posthorn Cottage, Mortimer Cottage, The Vineyard, The Mews Flat, The Bindery Flat, Drapers View

Hotels: The Cliffe Hotel, Degreys, Charlton Arms, Feathers Hotel, Fishmore Hall Hotel, Dinham Hall, Mr Underhill’s (Michelin Starred),

In the countryside, close to us, there is Seifton Court. Also Tugford Farm (which also does self-catering – but you will definitely need your own car).

Two important points:

• We have no relationship with any of these businesses. In particular, we haven’t stayed with them and we do not get any commission for listing them
• It is your responsibility to find and book a place. We cannot make your booking for you. We put all our energy into teaching you

Expert glass painting tuition from Williams & Byrne

The Williams & Byrne Stained Glass Studio, Shropshire, UK for exciting and technique-packed stained glass training.

“I admire your own unique works and feel honoured to have been taught by you both” (Sara Burns, Shropshire)

People travel far to learn with us.

“My students tell me how very kind you have been to them during their stay with you. I sincerely appreciate your generosity and courtesy” (Yasuhiro Muraoka, Kobe, Japan)

“Thank you for the wonderful time in your studio. Really enjoyed every second and learned so much. The beauty of this experience is that only after ‘digesting’ the knowledge I gain,  I begin to think of the many new possibilities now available to enhance my work” (Rami Zarchi, Israel)

“Thank you! I miss being with you: great company, lovely studio, and I did learn a lot” (Martine Bennett, California)

“Thank you so much for a great day. I learnt an enormous amount and feel completely inspired” (Lynsey Hayward, New Zealand)

Write with questions when you have them. We’ll answer you in person, or we can fix a time to talk.

What to do now

1. Tell us what you want to learn.
2. Book your course.
3. Come here and learn.

Welcome

It’s great you found us because here’s where you get answers to all kinds of questions about kiln-fired stained glass painting.

It’s all about techniques-in-action.

So your level doesn’t matter. You can be a studio owner or a beginner with a hobby. If you want to see how things happen in the real world and try them for yourself, that’s how you can learn new things here.

Finding what you want

Look along the top and you’ll see a menu bar:

The Home page takes you to the blog where you’ll find tips, techniques and discussions. There’s a useful new article every week.

Other tabs: take your time and explore them as you wish.

For example, who are we? Click the Profile tab.

Next, look to the right of the screen, and you’ll see testimonials from other glass painters. This is so you know you’re in good company.

Below the testimonials you’ll see a search box: type something, hit Enter, and you’ll go to a page with a list of relevant articles.

Below the search box, a list of Quick Links. This is very important. I’ve organized old articles/videos by heading. So if you’re interested in “tracing”, click the link, and away you go.

Regular tips and techniques

Sign up (it’s free), and you’ll get regular tips.

Wondering if it’s worth it?

Then click on the “7 Big Mistakes” tab on the menu bar and you’ll see what others say about this service.

It’s here.

Work hard and also ask

We’ll help everyone who helps themselves. The harder you work, the more you’ll get from us.

All the best,

P.S. Working hard is not the same as rushing. Take things in your own time. This isn’t a sweet shop from which you have to grab and eat as much as you can before you’re asked to leave. Everyone has different questions and different tasks ahead of them in life and also work. So take the time to browse and find answers to those questions which really interest you. It’s your life, your work. And when we can help, then write to us and say.

The essential brushes for painting glass with water

Here’s a checklist of the brushes you must have for painting and shading glass with water-based glass paint:

1. A large hake
2. A three-inch blender
3. Different sizes of short-haired sable tracing brushes
4. Different sizes of scrubs

Water – why you need these brushes

This is where everyone starts – by painting glass with paint that’s mixed with water.

And yes, it’s absolutely fine to spend your whole time painting with water and glass paint like this.

That’s because water-based glass painting is the classical approach.

All the same, when you work and learn with us, we take you deeper into the foundations than anyone else.

Actually into knowledge that’s pretty much been forgotten …

Like how to shade before you trace …

And how to do all your painting and highlighting (front and back) in a single firing.

So now let’s talk about the real techniques of water-based stained glass painting.

That will tell you why you need these brushes (and not others) for your water-based work.

Let’s get going.

Why you need a hake

Perfect for an undercoat

Most books tell you to clean your glass then trace the design.

That is, trace your design on bare glass.

This is not just a bad way to learn.

Often it is also a bad way to paint.

Often a better way to paint is to prepare the glass for the lines you want to trace.

So how do you do this?

Well, if you were decorating a room, you wouldn’t paint on bare brick …

First you’d paint an undercoat. This undercoat prepares the wall for later coats of paint.

It’s just the same with glass. But who else tells you this?

And the brush you must have to paint an undercoat is the one you see on the left.

It’s called a “hake”. And it’s a “large” one.

This is the perfect brush to prepare your glass for tracing.

See, we’ve tested all the wide brushes we can find and this one is simply the best not just for priming your glass with an undercoat of paint but also for turning traced lines into subtle shadows.

This brush has it all.

Soft hairs. (They are beautifully shaped.) Good stitching (so the brush doesn’t go bald!). It’s lovely to hold and grip. And the long handle gives you a wonderful feeling of balance in your hand.

Now if we sound like madmen, just take a look at our gallery, and remember that nearly every single piece of painted glass was prepared with a large hake brush like the one here.

That’s the proof.

It’s often best and also simplest to use a large hake brush to prime the surface of the glass before you trace and shade

So get a large hake. They’re worth their weight in glass paint.

Where? In Europe, order your hake from PELI Glass. Elsewhere, go to Amazon.com and search for “Ron Ranson Hake Brush Large”.

Why you need a three-inch blender

Essential for shading water-based paint

The next kind of brush you definitely must have is a good strong “blender” like this one here.

It’s made from badger hair.

It’s used for blending and moving water-based paint while the paint is still wet.

(It can also used for adding texture to water-based paint when the paint is wet or dry.)

Now the wonderful thing is it can also be used for turning traced lines into shadows. And we’ll come back to this in a moment …

For now, remember you’ve just used the hake to cover the entire surface of the glass with a light undercoat of paint.

And now, while the paint is still wet, you use the blender to smooth away the wrinkles you don’t want.

It’s the only brush for the job. That’s why you need one like this.

Now you’re longing to find out about tracing and shading, so let’s move on.

Why you need short hairs on your tracing brushes

The reason is, it’s nearly always mad to use long tracing brushes! Listen to this …

I remember my first glass painting lesson.

And I don’t know what my teacher was thinking off but in that I guess she was no different from most others … She presented me with a “traditional” stained glass tracing brush whose hairs were as long as my little finger!

Mad!

Here’s the simple truth:

Yes, long tracing brushes have their uses.

But mostly you’re just making trouble for yourself by using them.

Yes we know very well when you look in a catalogue the “stained glass tracing brushes” will mostly be more than an inch long …

This is because the retailers don’t paint stained glass!

But we do it every day.

We do it for our living in the deepest sense of the word: it earns our income and it’s our life’s work.

So we know you absolutely don’t need long hairs which can’t be controlled because they’re more like whips than brushes!

You need short and elegant hand-made brushes like these ones here – four good tracing brushes like these to paint lines of different thicknesses and also different strengths of colour:

Short and perfect shaped hairs for fine and thick lines, for light and dark lines

With a set like this, you can paint everything from faint to strong, from the thin line to thick.

And it’ll be you who is in charge of them – not them who controls you.

That’s the whole point.

And that’s part of the big picture.

So, starting with our trusted friend the one and only hake:

Perfect for preparing your glass for delicate tracing

And a blender like this …

A large blender like this feels beautiful in your hand. It is just what you need for water-based glass painting

… you can make a lovely surface on which to trace.

Which means your short-haired tracing brush …

Perfect for delicate tracing

… will well and truly grip the surface of the glass, allowing you to paint an image like this:

Honey bee – painted front and back in just one firing

… front and back in just one firing – get the free newsletter.

But that’s not all …

The return of the hake and blender

This is where the wheels leave the tarmac and your plane takes off. See, there’s this exciting path you can also follow:

1. Say you’ve painted your undercoat and traced your main lines
2. Now you can use your hake again to cover the glass with a second wash of paint
3. Next use your blender to blur those traced lines into shadows
4. When the paint has dried, you can reinstate the lines, which, using lovely coloured glass, gets you an effect like this in just one firing:

Using a hake, a blender and various tracing brushes on coloured glass, painted front and back in just one firing!

Maybe this too sounds so weird you want to reach for the panic button!

But again we’d say, just check out the gallery.

A whole lot of the glass there was finished in just one firing – precisely because we used these brushes to turn our traced lines into the subtlest shadows:

The Classic Glass Painting Collection from PELI Glass

Classic Glass Painting Tools

Now for the first time you can get these classic glass painting tools in a single collection:

• A large hake
• A professional three-inch badger blender
• Four short-haired sable tracing brushes (sizes 0, 1, 2 and 6)
• Three hog-hair scrubs

We don’t take any payment or commission from sales. That is precisely why we can honestly recommend them. – Because we have nothing to gain. Except your satisfaction.

Yes our name (“Williams & Byrne”) is on the brushes. The reason is, we use these brushes every day.

PELI Glass has assembled this kit, on our advice, for you.

You can find PELI Glass here and ask for the “Classic Glass Painting Tools“.

They will give you excellent service and provide you with remarkable brushes.

Paint better, fire less – free newsletter

The only way to get all our tips and techniques is: get the free email newsletter – it’s only about kiln-fired glass painting, and you get nothing but techniques:

How to give your painting depth and life

Techniques which bring your glass alive

Glass starts of shiny and flat. By painting it, you cut out and modify the light. And you want to do this in such a way the glass now gives your audience a sense of depth and life.

So here in this short guide is where you’ll learn how to build up layers and layers of depth in your glass painting. And that’s what will help bring your glass alive.

Now these techniques aren’t easy. They’re a challenge.

That’s why they’ll suit you if you’ve already done quite a lot of glass painting and you’re familiar with Glass Painting Techniques & Secrets from an English Stained Glass Studio.

“What do I get?”

You will get immediate access to a 15-page PDF glass painting guide with 3 designs.

“What’s the painting sequence?”

Just turn on your sound and watch the short video of the main stages you’ll learn about:

(Video not showing? Hit the refresh/reload button)

“What’s in the PDF download?”

You will get three full-sized water-colour designs of owl roundels – little owl, tawny owl and barn owl.

You will also get step-by-step photographs for each design.

Plus you’ll get short, clear instructions – laid out like this:

Step-by-step photos and short, clear instructions

Important

Please note though that this guide does not re-explain how to mix paint, how to prepare oil-based paint and so forth. That‘s all explained in Glass Painting Techniques & Secrets from an English Stained Glass Studio which is why I mentioned how you do need some prior experience to take on these three magnificent projects.

They’re beautiful. They’re enjoyable. And they’re a challenge.

Guarantee

And you always have a 100% risk-free money-back guarantee. If you want your money back for any reason, just write and say within 60 days, and I’ll oblige. I always want you to be completely happy with what you get from us.

The offer is …

Techniques which give your painting depth and life

Here’s the offer:

• Instant access
• 3 designs for stained glass owl roundels
• Step-by-step photos
• Short and clear instructions
• 100% money-back guarantee

Price: just $9.97

Click here and download now