Painting on Glass Tip - Silver Stain

I may have shown this photo before but it is relevant today also.

When painting on glass, silver stain can be a wonderful and also trying thing to use. This picture shows a piece I replaced for a window at St. Dominic Church in Clinton. At some point in time, the original piece broke out and an ordinary piece of window glass replaced it.

To duplicate it the best way possible, I made a screen that duplicated the other three medallions - the edge design only. That screen was used to silk screen glass paint onto the glass to give the black edge the design it needed. Once done, it was fired in the kiln at about 1200 degrees. The dove in the center was hand painted and was requested by the church. There are no photos or documents depicting what was in the original window.

The trick was in the silver stain. To find out what side of the glass the silver stain should go on, I purchased a Blak-Ray and Mineralight Mini UV Lamp. By putting the black light against the glass, I am able to tell which side should be painted with silver stain, and which side I should paint my tracing colors on.

This panel actually went through the following firings:
1) A light matt of bistre brown
2) Silk screened edge along with hand painted dove
3) Darker brown matt manipulated with a dry brush around the dove
4) Amber silver stain around the dove
5) Darker amber silver stain in the corners of the piece

By mixing my tracing and matt with zinc it helped to keep the piece looking similar to the older pieces in the window. The trick was to make it look like it matched, not make it look brand new. The church was very pleased with the outcome.

Pat Deere