ART OF STAINED GLASS
HOW TO PAINT GLASS

By David Williams and Stephen Byrne, directors of the Williams & Byrne stained glass studio in England, UK.

Williams & Byrne have years of glass painting experience that they want to pass on to you. People come from all over the world to learn from them. And now they are also writing a downloadable book on the techniques and secrets of beautiful kiln-fired glass painting.



Glass Painting Tour
Here's a tour of how we paint one of our favorite designs: a medieval head.

Click here for: MEDIEVAL HEAD PATTERN

The glass itself comes from Merton College at the University of Oxford. First of all, you need to prepare your paint.

• You need a LUMP of paint. Believe us: it's much easier to paint with a lump! For quantities and excellent techniques, see chapter 1 of our downloadable book.

• Choose and cut the glass.
• Clean it thoroughly on both sides and on the edges.
• Cover the surface of the glass with a light tone of paint.
• Blend it while it is still wet.
• Let it dry. Here's why: this gives you an excellent surface on which to paint delicately. It's rather like decorating a room: you always start with an undercoat. Glass painting is often just the same. This is a fantastic tip!
• With the glass on top of the design, lightly trace the main details. Let the paint dry.

• Remove the design from beneath the glass.
• From now on, keep it on one side so that you can look at it as needed.
• Now reinforce the main details and let the paint dry.
• Then trace the minor details. Also reinforce some of the minor lines (but not all of them, because variety is good).
• Use a scrub or stippler to create the highlights.
• Flood paint around the outline: for full details on how to flood, see chapter 2 of our downloadable book. Let the paint dry thoroughly.
• Use a sharp stick to pick out the details on the collar.

• Now turn the glass over. Cover the back of the glass with a light tone of paint. Blend it while it is still wet. Let it dry.
• Use a soft toothbrush to flick spots of paint across the back of the glass.
• Let the paint dry.
• When the spots are dry, rub them gently to remove some paint. This creates an ancient-looking texture.

• The glass is ready to fire.
• Fire the glass. Once fired, our glass looks like this:

For another lovely image to paint on glass, see chapter 3 of our downloadable book: it's packed with color images and tips for how to paint a beautiful stained glass decoration.

See www.BeautifulGlassPainting.com for our book. Please feel free to email us with with questions.