Glass painting, or stained glass painting, catches our attention with its vibrant colors, and the play of light inherent in this art.
When we start painting on glass, however, we can be disappointed by the marks left by the brush on glass...

Useful hints :
- use paintbrushes with very flexible hair
- or else small sponges,
- certain colors smoothen better than others -all depends on the pigments used).

To fix paint, baking in a regular oven is recommended.

To paint drinking glassware, a special paint suitable for contact with foodstuffs must be used. (These paints are now washable in diswashers), although this needs to be tested several times to be sure the colors don't fade or the paint deteriorate.
To try out ! Painting to create a frosted look, for a sophisticated effect...

To paint a motif on glass, draw or print it and slide it on the inside of the glass receptacle to be decorated.
Here, the design is a simple geometrical one : triangles.
Remember to measure the glass' inner circumference to calculate the size of the triangles so you have no overlap.
Here's a model to get you started in glass painting. Children can try this too.
The glass jar being used is eight-sided : each side can be easily painted in alternating colors.

The "hat" is cut out from a pretty fabric, ideally, using paper shapers, with the outline being first traced from a bowl (considerably larger than the jar lid) : kids can get involved at this stage too.
The all-important finishing touch! use some Outliner (gold or silver or 'painted relief') to make your design stand out.

Did you notice the red pepper? It's a motif from some paper napkins, cut out and pasted with adhesive varnish. See the technique of Paper napkin collage.
Each triangle on this jar is framed in gold outliner.
The background is painted red, the triangles yellow and orange, (it's difficult to see in the photo, but close-up it's extremely colorful!)

Outliner is normally sold in small tubes that require a light but constant pressure to produce a neat flow of outliner. Rest your elbows on the table, and with a little practice, we have a steadier grip.


Turning to painted motifs of a less permanent nature, something that's not just for the kids! Adults can also use these techniques for interior decorating.


[Repositionable paint] [Stencils] [Painting on cloth]