Wine Glass Painting
by Ed
I want to teach patients wine glass painting, so they can decorate glasses that will be suitable for sale to support our Not For Profit Agency. What is the best and safest technique / materials?
Milly's reply:
What a fantastic idea Ed! People love hand painted wine glasses, and I bet your patients will enjoy making them.
It's probably best to start with some cheap glassware - to get the hang of it without spending loads of money...but you can always wash a mistake off if it hasn't been fired.
First, wash your glass with rubbing alcohol and take care not to touch it. It's best to have worked out your design before you start, and you can always use carbon paper to transfer it on to the glass if you don't want to do it freehand.
Once you've finished the painting, it's really important to let it dry to manufacturers' instructions. Some require just one hour, some twenty four! The glass paint might bubble if you don't follow the instructions.
Put your glass in a cold oven, heat it to between 300F/150C - 350F/177C and bake it for 30-35mins. Again, read the instructions for the individual paint.
There's lots of different makes of glass paint - you could try Folk Art acrylic enamel or Pebeo. You don't say where you're from, but Pebeo is sold at Michaels and Dick Blicks if you're from the States. If not, you can get them from an art or stained glass suppliers or from an online catalogue.
The Pebeo is more transparent but takes 24hrs to dry. You might want it more opaque, as it shows more - it depends what you want; I'd advise trying a couple out to see which you like best.
The paint is dishwasher safe once it's been fired, but it's best to put them on the top shelf.
That's about it for wine glass painting! Good luck, and send in some photos when you have them - you might even get some web enquiries...
To find out more about how to make stained glass, click here and return to the Everything Stained Glass home page.
