Unique Glass Colors - Unique Glass Colors, a division of Crest Molds Inc., offers quality fired glass colors, glass paints, and glass molds. We specialize in paints and fired colors for glass sagging and fusing in the stained glass industry.

Glass looks so fragile and complicated that most people are content to admire from afar, never realizing the enjoyment they are missing by not participating in this wonderful craft.

Complete at least one piece and see if you don’t agree that it is easy and rewarding!

Let’s start by cleaning our glass square. Scrub both sides of the glass with a powdered cleanser, such as Comet or Ajax. Rinse well and dry with a paper towel. Handle the glass by the edges to prevent fingerprints. While decorating, if necessary to rest your hand on the glass, use paper towel to prevent smudges.

Position pattern under the glass. Shake the decorating bottle well and remove screw on cap, twist on the metal tip over the plastic tip. Test the flow and practice on a scrap of glass until you are comfortable with the bottle. Trace on all outlines. You will use the white outliner for blossoms, buds and the flower detail. Use black outliner for leaves and stems.

While the outlines are drying you can prepare your colors for application. Place a few drops of the Medium out on a palette, depending on the amount of color you will use, add the powder and mix with palette knife until you have the thickness of cream. Add a drop or two of water to thin to whole milk consistency. Mixed colors should be thin enough to flatten out when applied to the glass. If the color is too thick and the brush marks do not smooth out, add another drop of water. You want the colors to flatten out to a smooth application. If colors tend to run when applied, add a bit more of the powder.

Mix only what you will use in a days time and discard any that is left. Again, consistency is very important, as you want the color to flow from the brush, and flow together on the glass to heal all brush marks.

Now for the easy part—— "Puddle" in the color of your choice to each flower petal, completing each before moving on to the next. "Puddle" is a key word! Completely fill the brush and allow the color to flow from the brush, forming a puddle on the glass, then push the wet color to the outline. Color should always touch the outline. Continue until all flowers are completed.

All centers are finished with the Golden Orange.

Next we will color the leaves. This will be a bit different as we will be shading as we go along. I like to use two brushes, one for each color. Choose Apple Green for your light color, with Leaf Green for the darker green. Again we will complete each leaf before moving on to the next. Puddle on the leaf green to the areas that you perceive to be in the shadow, such as under the blossoms, and ect. Pick up your second brush and fill with light green and flow on the highlights, allowing the two colors to touch. Blend by "squiggling" or patting the two colors together. A bit of Golden Orange can be added to some of the leaf tips if you wish.

It is a good idea to allow the piece to dry at this point to prevent accidents.

Fill in all branches with Amber.

Mix your background color. On this piece we will be using Peacock Blue, but a black or white background would be very striking. Start applying the background color in the small closed areas in center of design. Complete all of the area before going on to the next, as you never want to apply wet color against dry color. On the border area, choose an section where a stem is close to the edge of the glass and move around the piece, applying wet into wet, planning the application in such a way that you will not have to apply wet color against color that has dried.

The decorating is finished! Easy wasn’t it? Granted, it does take time to complete a complicated piece like this, but, to me, it is relaxing to just fill in colors without having to worry about brush strokes or painting on three coats.

The final step———firing! You will see the flat, and easy to paint on, piece of glass become a shape with brightly colored designs. Place the finished piece of glass, painted side up, on a prepared sagger. I chose a square the same size as my glass, but you can use a round shape sagger if you would like. The only rules here are——the glass must be smaller than the sagger shape you choose.

Fire with a cone 015 in the Kiln Guard or to 1545° using a pyrometer. Vent kiln lid one quarter inch throughout the entire firing. Do not open kiln until it is completely cool to the touch.

You can now collect your supplies and more glass for your second project!

This technique is just another way you can use the powdered colors. I am sure you will think of other ways to decorate with these versatile powders.

Let’s start by cleaning our glass square. Scrub both sides of the glass with a powdered cleanser, such as Comet or Ajax. Rinse well and dry with a paper towel.

Select several different leaves from your yard or garden--------silk leaves will work just as well as the "real" ones! I like ferns, chrysanthemum leaves or weeds with interesting shapes.

Squeeze on a few drops of the Painting Oil to the glass and rub over the glass surface using your fingers. You should try for an light even coat, not too heavy.

Position your leaves in a pleasing pattern, press down so they lay as flat as possible and contact the oiled surface. You can change your pattern as many times as you wish until you are happy with the design. If the oil is not even after you change your pattern, just rub it again with the fingers.

Now for the fun part------------Select three powdered colors. The piece pictured has Coral, Apple Green and Blue-Green.

Use a tea strainer and with a palette knife, add the powder you think you will need to lightly cover about one-third of your glass. I usually start with my lightest color. Hold the strainer over the glass where you want this color and gently stir the powder in the strainer with the palette knife or a brush. You can also tap on the strainer to release the powder.

Select your next darkest color and repeat above, allowing the two colors to overlap. Finish with your darkest color.

You will not need solid coverage for your leaves to show. One color can be dusted over another to allow your colors to blend. If you do not have the complete glass covered with leaves, just taper the color to nothing on the blank areas of the glass.

Carefully remove all your leaves. You can use a needle tool to lift an leaf edge. Try not to smear your design as you progress.

The decorating is finished! Place the glass, color side up on a sagger of your choice.

Fire with a cone 015 in the Kiln Guard or to 1545° using a pyrometer. Vent kiln lid one quarter inch throughout the entire firing. Do not open kiln until it is completely cool to the touch.