Last time you saw a simple way to shade stained glass before you trace. Here today you’ll find a second way.
Big reason this is important: shading gives life to your work – it matters to your audience.
The proof?
The proof is in this video, in a story Stephen tells.
Shaped reinforcement bars
I don’t see the point in spending weeks on a design only for the reinforcement bars to spoil the finished window.
Granted: shaped bars are not as strong as straight ones.
Our answer is to add a few more by way of compensation. After all, you barely see them.
So we use straight bars where sections sit on top of one another, shaped bars within a section: the best of both worlds.
Unlike the Jesuits, we don’t need someone “before the age of seven in order to make them ours for life”.
No, as seasoned instructors of glass painting, five days at pretty much any point in someone’s adult life – provided they are fit and mentally well-balanced – will give us enough time not just to eliminate bad habits but also to convey the foundations of tracing, shading, highlighting, working with oil, and silver staining.
But make no mistake – it will be a tiring week. Not right for everyone by any means, because we focus ruthlessly on techniques, not self-expression.
Also, because the studio is so busy, this is indeed a rare event: a five-day intensive course like the one that’s happening all this week.
On the other hand just think what these people who have travelled 1000s of miles to spend five days working with us in the studio – just think what they will be confident to do when next Friday comes …
Watch this. You’ll need your volume on as well …
Glass painters often ask why I use oil before I fire my tracing and shading.
You’ll soon see. It’s all to do with the lovely effects that oil lets you quickly make.