Sweet pea window continues

The sweet pea transom light continues, the next step is painting the rope effect pattern on the blue centre surround. Traditional stained glass painting is completely unlike any other form of painting. The paint is very finely ground glass with pigments and other noxious substances in. It is mixed with water and gum Arabic and is kept either as a dry powder or ready to use in a foul looking lump of paint. Little bits of the lump are then cut off to mix into a useable paint, varying the ratio of paint to water depending on the effect required into a pool of working paint which is carefully re-mixed and tested every time the brush is loaded. 

First we paint a very thin undercoat onto the glass piece, this is then very quickly and gently blended with a special badger hair brush to an even coat. When this is dried, the piece is put over the cartoon and onto the light box. The basic lines of the pattern are the copy traced onto it using a fairly light paint. When dry it is removed from the cartoon and the trace lines are then strengthened with a darker paint and finer details are also painted in. When dry, paint is selectively removed to add shape, shadow or highlights. It is then fired in a kiln, this paint at 680 degrees, the firing cycle taking around four and a half hours which includes annealing time. 

Sounds like a lot of fuss, but the paint is now fused with the glass and is permanent.