Did you know many of the very old stained glass windows are painted? Today we can buy a huge variety of colours and textures of glass negating the need to use traditional painting methods such as scraffito where layers are scratched off to reveal colours underneath.
Many glass painting methods need a large kiln to fire the paints at high temperatures to make each layer permanent. I don’t have a large kiln, so I used a combination of Pebeo Vitrea 160 and Folk Art enamels to create the butterfly and moth. Paint was applied with brushes, cocktail sticks and a little metal stick thing that probably has a name but I don’t know it. Each layer was left to dry for 24 hours then the final design was baked at 160 degrees centigrade for 40 minutes.
One of my favourite pieces of art is M.C. Escher’s “Butterflies” and I have an extract tattooed on my arm. The tattoo artist told me that they are in fact moths – you can tell by looking at the feathered antennae. I wanted to incorporate the butterfly and moth into matching but different corner pieces. The insect colour dictated the glass choices and I created swirly leaf shapes just because this felt like the right shapes to use.
The moth is surrounded by very beautiful Van Gogh glass which looks like engraved silver ferns. It’s fragile to work with as vigorous grinding can wear away the patterned surface. The butterfly uses more autumnal colours.
Both are partially framed with zinc came. I prefer this to lead but you can’t just use a lead knife to cut it. It has a channel inside to fit the glass so you have to saw through four layers and need a multitool or hacksaw. Create 45 degree angles so the corners fit together and cut away a little piece to accommodate the hanging wire. I fed the ends right down into the zinc so they could be soldered in place and won’t come out when the piece is hanging.
These two were exhibited at the Artizan Gallery in Torquay, England in late 2022/early 2023 in the Contemporary Glass Society’s Glorious Glass exhibition.
What do you think of using paint in this way? Let me know in the comments.
PS Now they are back in Scotland and are for sale. Contact me for details.
