Why Too Much is Better than Too Little

"Waste isn't always where we think it is ..."

OK … so you already know to use a good-sized palette (not a postage stamp) and a good-sized lump of paint (not a teaspoonful).

And the thing I want to remind you of today is how you also need a good-sized batch of working paint – a reservoir in fact (not a paddling pool).

The “working paint” is what you dilute from the lump to make whatever consistency of paint you need for the particular stage in hand – in other words for (e.g.) tracing, or strengthening, or flooding (or whatever).

And today I’m just reminding you how, before you start to trace or strengthen or whatever – you must prepare more than enough.

More than enough: that’s the essential point.

See, it’s just about impossible to make exactly the right amount. So chances are you’ll either prepare too much or too little. And you know which is worse – yes, too little is worse, because if you prepare too little, you’ll have to stop what you’re doing (e.g. tracing or whatever) and prepare some more.

Not just that, but you’ll need to make a new batch that matches the batch that’s just run out.

Not just that but once you’ve done testing and comparing, you’ll need to get into your stride again, and re-find your rhythm.

All of which is a mighty big distraction.

A good-sized reservoir for undercoating - the entire right-half of the palette

Which means it’s far better to make too much than too little. And I’m reminding you about this because if you’re anything like me you don’t like waste so it takes a conscious effort to resist a misguided sense of frugality.

Yes, waste isn’t always where we think it is.

Here, real waste is when someone mucks up a piece of painting – they get half-way through it and it’s looking great but then they run out of paint and have to stop and make some more. And the new batch comes out lighter / darker / runnier / thicker (or whatever) that the earlier paint. So it’s easy for something to go wrong because the new paint doesn’t behave like the old paint … And then the piece is trashed. Yes, it happens very easily.

A good-sized reservoir for - tracing

And that’s the other big advantage of preparing a good-sized reservoir of working paint: you get to know how it’s behaving.

The point is, you’ve absolutely got to make more than enough paint to last you through whatever you’re doing.

Yes?

All the best,

P.S. Of course there will be paint left over – that’s the whole point. But it won’t be wasted paint because there are always many ways to use it up. Say you’re moving from strengthening to flooding: well, you just cut a few slices from your lump and thicken up the leftovers. Or say you’ve finished for the day, then you use the leftover paint to lubricate your lump before sealing it beneath its nightly cover. Little or no waste – even though you “made too much”. And at least your tracing or flooding was consistent. And at least you maintained your concentration.

Posted on Friday, November 4, 2011

Bored? Then Forget the Internet

by Stephen Byrne

Glass painting is more interesting

I am shocked.

A recent poll reveals that 40% of Londoners say they need to be “connected to the internet” at all times (yes, “all”) in order to remove the boredom of queueing.

This means 40% of Londoners are so addicted to distraction (sorry, Londoners, it’s what the poll says) they can’t bear the solitude of their own thoughts.

Now how have we let technology do this to us?

Here, there are two schools of thought about the effects of technology in particular and of tools in general.

Posted on Tuesday, September 15, 2015

A Different Approach To Working With Stained Glass

Studio Pass

by Stephen Byrne

Today I want to invite you into our studio to look at an approach we used on some windows we recently installed.

Maybe you’ll use this method exactly as you see it here today.

Or maybe you’ll make changes, giving it a life that’s all your own.

Whatever you do, I’m sure you’ll find the demonstration useful.

Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Update: moving to Substack

by Stephen Byrne

It’s been ages since we posted new videos and newsletters. There were good reasons for the silence, but what we want to tell you now is that we’ll soon be sending you new videos and newsletters again – if, that is, you’d like to get them.

What we plan to do is cover two distinct topics each month, one post or video every fortnight for each topic.

The first topic is the key techniques of kiln-fired stained glass painting – what they are, how to use them, and how to adjust them to a particular project. This topic will be very useful to beginners and newcomers, though less so to the more accomplished and those of you who’ve taken our various online courses.

Therefore, to broaden the appeal, the second topic will be an account of a big restoration project we accomplished:

We plan to go through all the stages with you, both practical (like drawing, cutting, taking apart, re-leading, painting and over-painting) and administrative (planning, costing, management).

We have a huge amount of material to share with you since, one morning every week, we set aside the time to take photos and make videos.

But, such was my loathing of all things digital in the time of covid, it was a policy of mine to avoid screen-time whenever possible, both as a consumer and a “maker”.

That’s why the material is all sitting on our flash drives just waiting to bounce out in your direction …

Now this second topic will, unlike the first, be useful to all levels, provided you aren’t so utterly devoted to God-less modern art that you think anything figurative, truthful and beautiful should go the way of the Buddhas of Bamiyan.

In other words, if you don’t like 19th century stained glass painting, you won’t be happy with our plans …

“French threaten Calais blockade … because of Williams & Byrne”

… because 19th century stained glass is otherwise what you’ll get a lot of in the coming weeks and months.

This will all be free, though there will be a discrete option to make a financial contribution just in case that now-so-weird concept of “disposable income” is still a reality to anyone out there.

But payment will be optional: if you want to learn, we’re here to show you the techniques which work for us.

However, we will shamelessly promote our first book from time to time and ask you to buy it if you haven’t already done so, if only so that we don’t have to repeat ourselves endlessly about the brushes, tools and paints we use.

And, with equal shamelessness, we will also ask you if you want to buy the occasional special feature where something has taken us a special and praiseworthy effort to prepare: there must be some reward for sacrificing ourselves on a keyboard to convey to you the methods and delights of traditional stained glass painting.

Of course, it will be your choice to pay or not, and we’ll be none the wiser as well as none the richer, and you’ll always get a huge amount for free. (Don’t expect me to repeat myself, however, concerning what’s already been delightfully expressed behind a very occasional paywall.)

There is, I must tell you, going to be one enormous change that you will feel. We are moving to a different platform. This is because it will leave more time not just for our other work but also for the work we do for you.

The new platform is called Substack which some you will know already. For those of you who don’t know what Substack is: how you’ll feel the change is that you’ll be able to choose whether to hear from me by email, or to read the lessons and watch the videos inside the Substack app for phone / notepad or on the Substack webpage.

Ourselves, for what it’s worth, we’d suggest you go the latter route: if everything’s delivered to the app or webpage, our forthcoming lessons won’t clutter up your Inbox, and they’ll all be neatly ordered in one place for you to read whenever you wish.

Here’s a screenshot from the web:

And here’s one from my phone:

Above, the phone version – also works for notepads

So much nicer, we think, than wading through a list of emails, searching in vain for the particular lesson you really need right now …

But who are we to lay down the law for you? We’ve had rather too much of that these last couple of years, haven’t we, and I don’t mind who knows that’s what I think.

As a taster, why not go here and watch a video of that big restoration project we’ll tell you all about in uncompromising, breathless and illuminating detail.

It’s a time-lapse video of the installation, is what this is:

Click the image to be swept away by a breathtaking, short video

If you have questions about any of this by all means send an email though I imagine I’ll likely reply with one big Q&A email rather than answering each message individually – time at keyboard just isn’t a love of mine. I even draft these messages by hand … this here is my drafting scrawl: