Painting on glass - BIG problem!

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?!! - Martin

Yup, your going low end on a high end job. Surface prep and correct materials are the ticket. How many are you making? Consider having them silk-screened, how thick is the glass, how even is the thickness. Most of the commercial advertising people have someone that does this. Check with the local guy that does silk-screening, they have non fire paints/inks made with epoxy base, and run them thru the dryer to "set" the ink.

Sounds like a beer glass with a built in cut-off-o-meter. Paints gone and you're done buddy! Sorry. One easy choice would be Pebeo Vitrea. You paint on, let dry and bake in a regular home-type oven. I think Deca makes an air-dry paint for glass, but the drying time is something like 2 weeks. Haven't used them, but the Pebeo should work for a while OK. Nothing is going to last forever if it gets much use anyway. Mayco makes a low-fire paint called Images for painting on glass. That must be fired in a kiln. I have tried them, and they are OK. Not the easiest stuff to find, for me anyway. The Pebeo is readily available at art/craft stores. They make 2 kinds I think. One for porcelain, and one for glass.

I use a 2-part paint, (epoxy) that is actually a silk-screen ink. Lots of colors, but in quart cans. One mixes paint and catalyst, just enough to last no more than 3 or 4 hours of working time. It stiffens up after that, just like epoxy cement does. Check out silk screen printing suppliers in your area. It can be air-dried in about

2 weeks, or can be heated in an oven following a schedule of degrees and minutes. It doesn't fuse with the glass the way kiln-fired enamels do, but it's pretty darn good -- I decorated a couple of drinking glasses with it for fun (my main work involves painting flat glass) and they are standing up to washing just fine.

The kind I use is: "Nazdar Epoxy Resin Screen Ink" but I'm sure there are other brands.

C.C.

I guess that explains why I can't find them. Just when I find something that's low fire enough before glass moves. And lead/cadmium free. Figures. Those that Crest sells, the Satelite/Unique paints are very high fire aren't they? Something around 1500 degrees to mature I think I read?