I have done a couple of projects recently where I painted glass. I am pleased with the results, and my head is spinning thinking of the possibilities. Painting glass is not rocket science, but there are a few things that I learned that I wanted to share with you to make your project easier.
Two Painted Glass Projects
I did two different painted glass projects at the same time. First, I painted three glass vases from the dollar store. Second, I also painted some mason jars that I had in the cupboard.
Taping Off For Painted Glass
For the vases, I used Frog Tape to tape off the area I didn’t want painted. I used the roll that I had on hand, which is 1.88 inches thick. The thick tape was too hard to manage in this circumstance. I should have used a half inch or one inch tape.
There were two challenges with preparing the vases. I wanted the lines to be straight and I also wanted them to be at the same height. To do this, I basically eye-balled it and it worked out. But it did take some work to get the lines straight and at the same height. You could measure and mark your glass to be more accurate.
On the mason jars, I wanted the line to be just before the rim, so I used the rim as a gage. I eyeballed this and it worked out quite well.
The Set-Up
I set myself up on a dropcloth, on the island in our kitchen and pulled together several different sizes of brushes for the task.
The Paint
I used Craftsmart Multi Surface Premium Satin Acrylic Paint. I used two colours: cherry and white.
The Painting Process
The painting part was straight forward. I was careful to press down the the tape on the vases to prevent bleeding. On the mason jars, I used a tiny brush to create a line around the rim, then a bigger brush on the rest of the jars.
It says on the bottle to do two coats. I didn’t feel the coverage was adequate, so I ended up doing four coats. It was necessary to completely dry in between, so this took a little longer than I had planned. I did this on a humid and this seemed to increase the drying time. Something to consider.
It says on the bottle to let the paint cure for 72 hours. I am such a rule-breaker. I basically waited until the glass was dry to the touch, then I moved to the next phase.
Baking The Painted Glass
The next phase was to put the glass in the oven. I used a tray covered in parchment paper. It says to put the glass in the oven, then to turn it on to 350 degrees for 30 minutes. I interpreted this as 30 minutes in total, including warm-up time. I don’t know if this was what they intended. It says to leave the glass in the oven while it cools. I did that and they turned out beautifully.
So Many Possibilities
I think a painted glass project is something that has so many possibilities. There are colour options, as well as what you paint and how you paint it. This is also a great project for kids, with supervision.
I hope this gives you a few hints on how to make the painted glass project a fun and easy one for you.
Always
Leslie
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