At our studio we have just completed a glass painting course.
Mariella, from Mazzara del Vallo, a glass firm in Sicily, came to IKO Studio to enhance her skills in stained glass by perfecting her glass painting technique.
After discussing her ideas and looking at a few designs and photos, Mariella decided to make a small rose window that would included a wide variety of techniques used in glass painting.
During this glass painting course, Mariella practiced using paint mixed with essential oils, for the tracing lines; paint mixed with water, for the shading as well as transparent enamels and silver stain.
To take advantage of the times when the rose window’s glass was to be fired, Mariella also embarked upon painting a smaller project, to paint the face of the Virgin Mary.
The first part of the course focused on glass cutting. Mariella choose from a selection of mouth- blown glass, machine-made glass and clear, float glass. Once the cutting was complete, this is what Mariella’s rose window looked like.
During the second part of the course, using paint mixed with essential oils, Mariella painted each piece. She learned and perfected the painting of crisp, sharp lines with a thin and pointed brushes.
Sometimes the paint she was using had been mixed with water, and at other times, with Arabic gum . She added shading to the glass and also created an interesting pattern on the external, blue pieces.
Next, Mariella learned to apply yellow transparent enamel and an amber silver stain on the clear glass. This was done at the same time, cleverly eliminating an extra firing. The painting phase was complete.
The stained glass was then leaded up and carefully cemented. Once cleaned and polished, Mariella’s stained glass window looked like this:
…and this was only after one week on IKO Studio’s residential, intensive glass painting course! Well Done Mariella!
Nice step by step photos on the different steps Mariella took to create her panel.