Glass Powder Painting
Using glass powder painting to create stylized fused glass jewelry items.
These techniques can be used to produce a varied range of fused glass items ranging from glass jewelry up to large fused art glass designs.
You don't have to be an artist to make some great kiln formed glass art.
The mixed glass powder is applied to the glass and moved around with a paint brush as well as letting the mixtures run across the glass.
Painting Supplies:
Variety of colored frit powders.
Glass.
Only one piece of 4 x 4 inch glass has been used for the base.
Applicator bottles.
You need plastic squeeze bottles with a removable applicator tip.
I use old 60 ml capacity hair product bottles which have been washed out, hardware stores and Walmart should have suitable bottles.
Some fusing supply stores have small bottles with a fine tip that are more suitable for drawing fine lines.
An old cake decorating bag can also be used.
Paint brush.
A medium size paint brush is fine for moving the powder around.
Bottle of glass medium gel or aloe vera.
Liquid Stringer gel or Fritz Spritz gel can be used, along with water to hold the paint mixture together.
Aloe Vera is quite suitable and cheaper to use as a medium for powder mixing. Aloe has been used in the powder mixture for this project.
Always wear a respirator when handling dry powdered glass.
Preparing Mixture:
You need to use two parts of powder to one part of gel.
Place powder in bottle then add gel.
Add water to thin mixture, replace cap and shake thoroughly to ensure the contents are completely mixed.
Squeeze bottle to test mixture thickness, if too thick add more water, if too thin add more gel.
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| Different glass powder colors being applied to base glass. | All glass colors have now been applied to the base glass. | Using a paint brush to blend and move colors around on the glass. |
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| Painting completed, paint blended and allow to run across glass. | Now ready for kiln firing after being allowed to dry completely. | Painting now kiln fired and all colors fully fused on transparent base. |
After you have applied the paint you will find that it will sit well above the base glass and will need to be spread out with your paint brush.
Gently tilting the glass should allow the glass powder to run across the glass and the colors will blend together.
The paint must be allowed to dry completely before you kiln fire it otherwise the piece may be destroyed.
Firing:
To fire this piece bring the heat up gradually to 1500 F (816 C) and hold for 5 to 15 minutes.
If satisfied that the paint has fused properly vent kiln until heat drops to 1000 F (538) then close lid and switch off.
This project has a clear glass base, as the powders were not applied very thickly the colors are transparent.
The fused piece can be cut with a glass cutter and used to make glass jewelry items.
Pendants can be made with a nice contrasting base color fused to the top transparent colors.
Light weight earrings are great made this way.
Experiment with different base glass colors, mix various powders together to improve your color palette.
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| Sysyem 96 powder fused to clear glass base. | System 96 powder fused to clear glass base. | System 96 powder fused to opaque blue glass base. |
The photos above are abstract colors painted on Spectrum 96 glass
and then fired.
The last photo shows slightly different coloration as it is an opaque colored glass under the glass powder.
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