Some of you folks are forever teasing us about our soldering iron. I mean, here we are – Williams & Byrne – designing and making fabulous stained glass for fabulous houses: at the top of the profession, and yet we use gas to join the painted glass and lead. But my point is –
Your trace lines – your outlines, or contour lines – these lines can only be as good as your paint and tracing brush allow.
So if your glass paint is badly mixed, or your tracing brush is wrongly shaped and loaded, your trace lines can’t be right.
End of story.
That’s why today I want to show you the right and the wrong way to load your tracing brush.
All I ask three minutes of your time, that’s all I’ll take, and in return you’ll see the difference.
When someone visits us to learn, we always start with silhouettes. It’s never yet mattered how experienced they were, silhouettes always make a good place from which to start.
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 …”