A good question from a colleague in Maryland, USA:
I am an experimental physicist in mid-career and very busy with work – so my time spent on stained glass and glass painting is very sporadic – it has been 8 or 10 months since my last project.
Is it OK to make the lump of paint (as you teach) and leave it for 6 months to a year?
Should it be tended to periodically over that time?
Will it “come back” and be usable after a very long time?
And the answers are …
For firing schedules, get this free guide to the stained glass firing schedules we use here for stained glass paint and water/oil and silver stain.
This is now flooded, unfired paint we’re working with. The paint has a good amount of gum Arabic in it. You’ll see in some shots how it looks as red as unfired stain, but that’s just the lighting: it’s ‘Violet of Iron’, a gorgeous tracing paint by Reusche. Watch the video here.
The commission is yours (the tycoon growled) if, within seven days, you can forge me a convincing piece of ancient-looking painted glass. It would be nice if it were beautiful, but above all else it must look old.
The boardroom was littered with other makers’ samples – wallpaper, curtains, rugs, table-tops etc.
I could see the tycoon’s problem.