In which I attack the work I’ve done thus far
Three quick reminders:
- These aren’t teaching videos. Our aim not to analyse a technique and give you step-by-step instructions. Instead, in these videos, we want to show you how we work in real life. We also talk about the wider issues.
- A “talbot” (hound) was a hunting dog – the breed is now extinct.
- In this series, you see me painting a dog’s head that’s gone missing from a 19th century window. It’s a part of a restoration project we’re working on right now.
If you’re new to the blog, welcome, and you’ll find episode 1 right here.
In this episode, because episodes 1 through 4 have brought me to the point where my talbot hound looks young and new, I must now take steps so my beloved dog resembles the time-worn fragments which survive…
If you wish to, you can download the episode from here.
P.S. Stephen cut this headline from The (London) Times a few days before Christmas:
Who writes this stuff? Who believes this stuff? Our clients don’t want a full service experience. (Do yours?) They want their windows back, looking lovely, and good to live another hundred years. The only experience our clients want is of their glorious windows (including the Talbot hound). God willing, that’s what they’ll get.
Thank you! I love the aging of the Talbot Hound and look forward to next week to see it fired. How do you place the glass in the kiln to fire both sides of the glass?
When I'm firing paint on both sides of glass at once, I'd usually place the side with most detail so it faced upwards. (With the Talbot Hound, it will be the side with all the tracing etc). The only time I wouldn't do this would be if this side needed to be rougher / drier / more biscuit-like / less glossy than the other side.
So one side (the less detailed side; or the side where it doesn't matter if the paint looks a bit drier) goes face down on the firing surface; the other side is face up.
I hope this gives you the information you were after. If not, please say, and I'll reply.
Your videos are brilliant and I am learning a lot. Thanks so much for sending them!
Just wondering - what are the benefts of using gold size, and is the back of the glass the side which would have been exposed to the elements?
Great work, well done.
2nd question first: yes, when we talk about the "back" of the glass, we mean the side which is outside and facing the wind and rain etc.
Of course, this side might itself be protected by external glazing.
It is, however, still the "back" for us.
Your 1st question: on this project, when we use glass paint and gold size on the back of the glass, it won't be fired.
One reason is, at least for the original pieces, it mustn't be fired, since firing would make a permanent change to ancient glass: and this, following current guidelines, is something people shouldn't do, because everything must be reversible.
Here, the advantage of gold size is that, once it dries, it's very very strong. You'd need to scrub and scrub with a wire brush to get it off.
But (you ask) what about the weather?
Well, these windows will have external glazing, so the unfired paint and gold size will be well protected.
Thus, with protection and also good ventilation, this unfired paint will last for many, many years.
So that's the advantage of (unfired) paint plus gold size: that we're not making a permanent change to ancient glass, yet changes we are making will certainly last a good long time.
Meanwhile, for new painting, you can of course fire paint and gold size.
The advantages of this medium then?
Briefly, it allows you to paint layer upon layer upon layer, fearlessly, because as I mentioned earlier, once the gold size has dried, it's incredibly resilient, so you can work on top of it, and the earlier layers should stay the way you left them.
This is a technique we teach inside our course on shading. That's all I'll say about that since we're not selling anything here - just showing you how we work, talking about it, and answering your questions.
The videos have become a 'Friday treat' for me. As ever, really interesting to see. Appreciate the effort you make to share your work. Thanks.
Great video, thanks again. Just wondering, do you ever date the repaints for future restorers to find? Can't wait for the next episode.
I hadn't thought about this (because in fact we're photographing everything and writing everything up) but I can see it's a very good idea. I've often come across a tiny signature and date, hidden within an angel's wing or a bushel of corn or the strap of a sandal: as on an archaeological dig, it's an exciting and touching discovery.
Thanks for the reply David. I spent a lovely two years at Hardmans with you. Really enjoyed those days. Thanks again.
When firing both side of the glass do you use a shelf primer or thin fire paper?
Really enjoying these videos 😊
Nearly always we fire on a bed of whiting. Pressed down. If you scroll back and back through our posts to one from 29 June 2018, you'll find a video.
Shelf primer or kiln paper might also work fine: you'd just need to test it first, to make sure direct contact with the chemicals didn't interfere with how the pigment fired. I suspect it'll be fine, since I'm fairly sure we've done it ourselves. But your primer / kiln paper might contain different ingredients to ours. That's why testing's necessary here.
I would like to add that I had quite a problem with denitrification on my painted glass. I did ALOT of test firing and found it was the Bullseye thinfire paper. So now, if not using whiting, I pre fire the thinfire as you would fibre paper and THEN fire my painted glass on it. Just have to be careful when opening the kiln after the pre firing as the thinfire paper is very delicate and susceptible to drafts! Hope this is useful. Eryl
It is useful: thank you, Eryl - it's one thing for us to say "we prefer whiting because we've had difficult experiences with thin fire paper".
It's another thing for you to speak up as a one-time student of ours, and corroborate this for others.
It's possible not all fire paper is problematic. We certainly use a fire paper that's about the thickness of a cardboard box, and it's fine (yes, we do fire it first), and you can use it many times providing that you're careful.
And we also use an even thicker material - fibre board proper - which is also fine.
But thin fire paper: the fumes really interfere. Plus it's so thin, it rips.
I'm enjoying the discussion about paper vs whiting. I don't know if this is helpful, but in my small kiln (about 5 inches square shelf) I fired with a common brand of shelf paper awhile back and I've been firing on its ash ever since, at least a dozen times. Every time I remove a piece, it makes the ash clump up and leave what look like bare spots on the shelf, but there must still be a very thin layer all over because in all those subsequent firings I've not had anything stick. I wouldn't go so far as to recommend such a tactic because it clearly risks losing all the work that goes into a piece, just to save time on cutting a fresh bit of paper. But I have an experimental turn of mind and I just want to see what the limits are on this. Having more data on all aspects of this work - that's got to be a good thing!
Very interesting to learn the shelf paper leaves a residue which so far stops glass from sticking, Steve. And yes, more data is nearly always helpful - I love empiricism.
In many ways, aging is my favorite part of the whole process. My hands may be a bit shaky so my tracing isn't the best; my highlighting and blending and flooding may leave a lot to be desired. But aging mellows a lot of that, so it's nice to watch the piece settle down into something to be proud of!
Even the best trace lines and finest shadows, because placed by hand, will, when examined ruthlessly for scientific accuracy, tend to fall short.
So yes, highlights, softened highlights and, as you say ageing - all these techniques help your audience see the piece with a gentler frame of mind, the way they should.
It's not a technical drawing, after all. Therefore we're fully entitled to employ techniques which pull the lines and shadows firmly away from being seen within that and any other inappropriate context.
(Mind you, some people do paint like angels, and their painting does sustain minute scrutiny and admiration.)
Thank you,
again for sharing this fascinating process. I am always excited to see a posting from you.
Completely absorbing, thank you. Revisited and reminded me of the stages from the Illuminate course. Have mixed a new lump of paint and will get going with a couple of your downloaded examples and start there. Looking forward to next week first though.
John
do you wear a dust mask in this process
thank you for your wonderfull lessons
I don't, John.
Please however: do as you should (and not as I do).
With happy memories of Bryn Athyn nearly 6 years ago now.
David
i can,t believe the time has past so quickly,wonderful memories.
Thanks gratitude is a feeble word to express you and Stephens' teaching.
John
Wow amazing restoration work!....I’ve purchased your online glass painting courses but it’s still so nice to see you guys working on your customers projects like this! ....love all your videos, thank you for sharing them, they make my day! Keep up the good work x
Love watching this series! Thank you for taking the time to make it!! I just noticed that you are working on one of the thin light pads (over top of your regular light box ) and was curious if you have any comments on using them. Pros, cons? How big is that one? Does it get warm? is the light fairly even across it? Thank you :)
These videos are so well-produced & enjoyable...thank you!
I'm curious to know what you do with all your fired test pieces. You must have accumulated a great amount by now! It seems so wasteful to just toss them away; they must be worth something!
I just discovered your videos and website and it's like someone opened the door to a glass painting candy shop! Loving every minute of video and learning a ton! One silly question, what is gold size? I'm new at this. I also read that you don't fire it - but that it can be fired. Thank you for sharing these videos!
Bonjour et grand merci
C'est passionnant et je vais faire cet exercice de qualité
Vous parler de: "sur ce projet, lorsque nous utilisons de la peinture sur verre et de la taille dorée au dos du verre, il ne sera pas cuit".
Pouvez-vous faire un rappel de ce qu'est la taille dorée, svp?
Encore merci pour toutes vos vidéo
Of course, Chantal: sorry - "size" is a homonym, of which we have a lot in English, and I should have thought about that, because it quickly gets confusing when we speak and write.
One meaning is "la taille". Another meaning - the one we use here - is "la colle". So "gold size" is the glue which gilders use to stick gold leaf (la feuille d'or) to furniture, frames etc.
I, am really enjoying this series. How would you repair a mistake, if one occurs this far long into the project?
It depends on the mistake, Wendell. No easy guidance possible here - except to say, You practise on your test piece, and you never have to rush.
I forgot to say: please see Steve Voita's comment on episode #4, where he describes using an airbrush.
I've thoroughly enjoyed this series. It has filled in some information gaps, and thank you for that! Perhaps an odd question, but what is (roughly) the largest size piece of glass that you feel reasonable/comfortable in painting before deciding that the image should be cut down into smaller units? Just the size limits of the kiln? Obviously not applicable to restoration work, but for those of us starting a project from scratch. Thanks.
I'm sorry this is late. You're right - an important factor is the size of your kiln. Also, the kiln's controller, and the reliability of the power supply, because: the larger the piece of glass, the more important it becomes to anneal it. On the other hand, in my heart I feel that artistic preference, tradition and talent might play a more significant role: if a designer feels impelled to design an image with huge bits of glass, this is what will happen, and then, to get the window made, they'll just need to find a kiln that's big enough to fire it in. "Preference" is subjective though important: David and I might look at someone else's design and possibly shake a little and feel the urge to do things a bit / a lot differently, were it up to us to make it - that's just the way it is. It's not that we'd be absolutely right to break the design/the glass in different ways; it's only that, when you've learned a particular idiom, other ways can seem awkward. Another point which strikes me, which I'll finish with: is strength. When you design a window, you also think about how it will support itself. For instance, you don't design a window that, through gravity, might collapse downwards like a concertina. This leads the designer to break up the image in a particular way, as unobtrusively as possible to the viewer.