Painting Question

Got a bigger sample ? more photos,

alot of the older Grisaille(sp?) type windows were done with metal stencils.

As Java said. Many of these windows were done with metal stencils. The stencils are the image of the design not the opposite. First you lay down a mat of paint with little to no gum arabic. Then place the stencil on top and brush out the unwanted areas..

The easy way to do this is to have a silk screen made.

I was hoping to hear from you on this Vic. How would you handle this, if you were just doing a handful of these pieces? I was thinking of just tracing from a good piece. Can I fire the reverse side matting at the same time?

I would silk screen them. You can draw the design or give a piece of glass to the screen company. Get 230 mesh screen for oil use. Mix the paint in squeegee oil. Yes you can fire both sides at once. Make sure you use kiln wash or a bed of whiting. Call: Standard Silkscreen 212-627-2727. You can send them the drawing and they will mail you the screen. They are nice,fast and have good prices.

Vic

JK They are grisalle -- they may well be hand painted - as that technique was not uncommon at the time. Remember - labor was cheaper back then.

A large pattern was put under the glass - and the design was painted on with glass enamel and then fired.

I suspect that today we would use more modern techniques to do fast reproduction of a design -- stencil or silk screen, either one, would be a viable alternative.

If you are doing reproduction work of this kind - make sure you have compatible glass enamel "paint" to your plain glass. If you use window glass - you can probably obtain the proper materials from Thompson Enamel. They make an entire line of enamels that are compatible with float glass.

If you are doing small numbers of pieces -- why not try the old fashioned artisan way -- make a master design - tape it to your work table - and start painting....

Cheryl

Cheryl, While you thoughts are good and well intentioned, that would be a nightmare job to do hand painted with a tracing brush. In actuality, you are partially correct, but enamels are a low fire item, not enough longevity, so "glass stainers colors" are used. They are little more than powdered glass and flux, but once fired (to a higher temp than enamels) last a very, very long time, and not nearly as fragile as enamels. Look at all the European Cathedrals, an example of the strength of the "glass stainers paint". This , by the way, is not meant to chastise you, just inform.

The pieces of glass got a coat of paint across the entire piece of glass, then when dry, a metal stencil was laid on it and the "open" areas "cleaned up", this was sometimes followed by a "thin density wash" on one side or the other so there was no clear light coming thru the pane. Early mass production, without the technical know how of screen printing, or devotion to floor space of a screen and printing table.

Riordan Studios, formerly of Cincinnati and Kentucky, now part of Beau Verre Studios has stacks of stencils, as do people in the Detroit area that have Stencils from the old Detroit Stained Glass Works.

If you are only doing a few, might try making your own stencil with a good sharp Exacto blade and thin roof flashing, works in a pinch....

Years ago I worked on some Bolton windows. The church had in their files the original brass stencil from around 1860. That's what we used to make new replacement pieces.

How to do the cleanup on all those tiny little areas between lines? Are you saying to scrap the paint off with a small blade? Seems to me that cleaning it up as you suggest, would be alot more work, and sloppier looking.

those little tiny areas between the black lines are the open areas of the stencil, you use a little stiff brush, and needle and stick of sharpened wood, whatever you have /can make to clean it up. the metal stencil keeps the lines straight and everything nice and clean looking when you lift the stencil off. If you have never done it you haven't lived man!! Everybody should have to do one of these jobs once so they know that they under charged on that first one and never ever do it again!! Its not that bad, is time consuming but not terribly so, and would be one hell of alot more work to trace paint all those lines and be very uniform and precise like most of those panes are. Not sloppy at all if done correctly.

Wear a VERY good dust mask

I'm getting a mental image of one of those draftsman's erasing shields. You know, the thin flexible thingie about the size of a playing card with all the various shaped holes in it? Is this similar what you are using to "remove" the unwanted paint?

Precisely, works just like that, just can't slide it around, you lay it on and leave it there and remove the paint that is visible. The really good old timers that did nothing but paint, therefore knew their "stuff" better than many, would put an alcohol matte right over the top and fire the pieces one time in a gas kiln, whole piece is done in 20-30 minutes. Just guessing here, never had the privilege of owning a gas kiln, passed one at a sale once long ago, and been kicking myself ever since. If I had plans ,I'd build one.

OK I can picture it, but why not use the stencil on a piece of glass, and apply the paint with a wide brush to the entire thing. That way only the open areas will get the paint, and no cleanup is needed. Like a sandblasting resist? What am I missing here?

Soft , fuzzy edges happen if you apply over the stencil , expensive brushes get their tips cut off also, by the metal edges, paint will build up at the edge and the center will be thin, give crazing and crackling when fired. and its just plain wrong, ( I use that answer when I can't think of more reasons) Alot of what you're saying is why a great many people, myself included, silkscreen when we are doing a number of replacements, if you are only doing a few, and you want them to "blend in" with what is around it, use "file folder paper" and hand cut your own stencil out of that. Then you can try it both ways, but I think after you hand cut one stencil, you may not want to cut the other.... Try it and tell us how you do...please.