The painting of glass surfaces allows you to create unique products that can decorate the interior of a living room and office. A wide selection of materials and stencils in specialized stores makes it possible to do this for both professional and novice artists. Before you start, it’s worthwhile to figure out what paints on glass exist and how to apply them correctly.
- Types of painting materials for glass
- For stained glass
- Acrylic
- Oil based
- Silicate based
- Fixer Application
- Application
- Acrylic coating
- Use of balloon coatings
- Production of coatings at home
- Plexiglas painting
Types of painting materials for glass
There are several basic varieties of coating, depending on the purpose of application and the basis for production.
For stained glass
Stained glass paints are a decorative material that is resistant to abrasion, not afraid of water and sunlight. Stained-glass paints allow you to decorate mirror surfaces, glass vases, dishes, photo frames, etc.
Before using a set of stained glass paints with stained glass, it is necessary to apply a contour that will prevent the spread of the coloring composition. After drying, the paints for stained glass are transparent. The color kit most often includes stained glass varnish for drawing contour lines.
There are organic solvent solvents and water-based paints, which differ in their scope.
to contents ↑Acrylic
These water-based materials are opaque, their use resembles painting with oil paints. For application it is better to use a wide brush, and if the surface has a large area, then it is worth taking an acrylic composition in the form of an aerosol.
Oil based
Oil paints are opaque, therefore intended for painting matte surfaces. Before applying, they must be diluted with an oil topcoat, which makes the material resistant to water with the addition of detergents. However, the coating is not heat resistant.
Silicate based
Silicate heat-resistant coatings for glass resemble watercolors, but they must be fixed at a temperature of 700 to 800 ° C. This can be done at home in the oven, if the size of the product allows.
Fixer Application
When purchasing a set of stained glass paints, you should know that after applying and drying, fixing is necessary.
The universal fixative of any paints is varnish. But, in addition to this function, it is used as a solvent if the material is thickened, or when mixing paints. Porous surfaces are also varnished before painting, which makes it possible to make them smooth, simplifying the drawing process.
to contents ↑Application
Stained glass paints have their own application technology. First you need to purchase:
- a set of stained glass paints;
- contours for drawing on a glass surface;
- ready-made stencils, which, if desired, can be done independently;
- ethanol;
- brushes;
- cotton buds;
- toothpicks or a needle.
Before you draw stained glass paints, you should choose a pattern. You can take freely available templates and stencils for copying. Further, all work is carried out in stages and in a certain sequence.
Before painting the glass, degrease it with alcohol. If there is a talent and skills of the artist, then a pattern is applied with a marker. Otherwise, you can fix it on the back of the product or transfer it to the front side of the stencil through a carbon copy.
Each part must be carefully contoured to avoid tearing. Then you should wait for it to dry completely, the time of which is indicated in the instructions.
Stained-glass paints are applied dropwise, and then distributed with a brush from the center to the periphery in an even thick layer. Errors should be corrected immediately with cotton swabs, preventing the coating from drying out.
Having painted all the details of one color, rinse the brush thoroughly, wipe it dry and start working with a different shade. Stained-glass paints form air bubbles in their thickness, which can be eliminated with the help of a needle tip or a toothpick. To speed up the drying process of the finished pattern, you can use a hairdryer.
to contents ↑Acrylic coating
Glass painting with acrylic paints also begins with the degreasing of the working surface and drawing a picture on their own or with a stencil.
While stained glass paints are applied with their own hands only on the contour-processed pattern, this is not necessary for their acrylic analogues.
If you make a contour, the image will resemble a stained glass window. And without using it, the pattern will be stylized as a painting.
After drying, items of kitchen sets need to be coated with heat-resistant varnish to increase their service life and preserve the colorfulness of the drawings.
It is worth considering the fact that decorative, heat-resistant water-based acrylic paints dry very quickly, but they require baking in an oven for stability.
to contents ↑Use of balloon coatings
Aerosol paints are most often used for painting large glass products, although professional artists also use them to decorate small parts. This can be done without having rich drawing experience, using stencils or construction tape.
In specialized stores you can purchase the following varieties of aerosol formulations:
- oil;
- heat resistant;
- acrylic;
- latex and others.
Most often, spray paints for stained glass and other glass products have an acrylic base.
Also established production heat resistant aerosol material for processing certain types of dishes.
The advantages of aerosol materials include:
- quick readiness for use;
- ability to penetrate hard to reach places;
- good adhesive properties;
- long shelf life without changing the quality characteristics;
- no application tools required;
- resistance to abrasion and fading;
- rich color palette;
- high drying rate.
Despite the abundance of advantages, spray paints have some disadvantages:
- impossibility thinner paint;
- sophisticated application technique;
- mandatory use of stencils for drawing small parts - this increases the consumption of expensive paint;
- aerosol materials of different colors can not be mixed;
- use of personal protective equipment such as goggles, a mask or a respirator during spraying.
Using aerosol acrylic paints, you should strictly follow the instructions to avoid the formation of sagging and other flaws.
When decorating glass surfaces outdoors, you need to choose calm, calm weather.
to contents ↑You can fix the applied drawing with a transparent acrylic varnish.
Production of coatings at home
Despite the fact that the production of such materials for glass is at a high level, and a set of stained glass paints can be easily bought at the store, some artists prefer to make them on their own.
They are prepared on the basis of such an organic substance as gelatin, which must be diluted with BF-2 glue or clear varnish for furniture. To give the desired shade, dyes for the fabric are added to the mixture. They can be replaced with ordinary gouache.
If you are the first to create stained-glass windows with your own hands, then after applying freshly prepared paint, it must be fixed with colorless varnish to avoid washing off the picture with water.
to contents ↑Plexiglas painting
Before painting plexiglass, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of this process and purchase the necessary materials and tools.
First, the surface is cleaned of grease, dust and dirt using alcohol. Then the product is placed in a heated coloring solution of zaponlak for a time that is from 30 seconds to 15 minutes. This indicator determines the saturation of the tone.
After the staining process, the glass is quickly transferred to a container of cold water until completely cooled. Next, wipe the plexiglass with a dry cloth or felt to give shine. If the color of the product is not bright enough, then it can be made more saturated by repeating the entire cycle from the beginning, after thoroughly drying the treated surface.
When deciding how to paint plexiglass, it is worth deciding in advance on the color scheme and the presence of sketches that are applied after basic staining using stencils and a paint brush.
Having decided to decorate your home with glass products painted by your own hands, it is worth trying various techniques and coatings, and then making a choice. In specialized stores, you can first take the materials of basic colors for dyeing, and then independently obtain various shades from them. And you can immediately purchase a set of stained glass paints and stencils, so as not to limit the flight of your imagination.
