Glass Decorating: Tools and Materials
Modern day glass decorators rely far more heavily on technology as an aid to this particular skill. It saves time, increases precision and detail and generally opens the way to engaging in a whole range of new production processes.
Glass Printing
Glass decorating is no longer restricted to a religious context; it has entered the commercial world. Screen-printing companies have started applying decorations on glass items like mirrors, cooking utensils, bottles and more. Rather than painting the glass they print on designs via methods like screen printing, pad printing and digital printing.
The inks they use are either organic or inorganic inks. While organic inks consist of organic pigments and resins, inorganic ones are made of mineral-based pigments and finely ground glass particles. Both share the property of relying on temperature to create a form of energy which will permanently bond the ink with the glass.
Computer Software
As mentioned, advanced technologies facilitate the art of glass decorating. Stained glass designs can be prepared with the aid of software such as Glass Eye 2000. Such programs are simple to used and produce beautifully coloured and highly detailed patterns for glass.
Decorative Glass supplies and Tools
Above and beyond such design aiding software, glass decorators also make use of a great number of tools and materials such as fusing kilns, hot and cold rods for cutting the glass into panes, special heat resistant Kevlar gloves and extensive ranges of colour pigments and tints. Tweezers and Glasstac Glue, easy-cut lens cutters and silver wire for holding individual panes together are also essential materials for the production process.
Glass Fusing Supplies
The technique of glass fusing calls for a special range of glass fusing molds and other supplies: fused glass is a tricky medium to work in, and requires the correct tools and materials if success is desired.
Designs
While tools themselves haven’t changed much in nature from those used in medieval and traditional glass decorating methods, what has changed is the degree of precision and detail they enable any decorator to achieve in his art.
For its modern use, there are no clearly definable designs which an art decorator must employ. This was different in times when stained glass was an art reserved for religious use and designs had to follow strict instructions and guidelines.
Several artists have won recognition for their stained glass creations, Louis C. Tiffany (1848-1933) being an exemplary representative. His artworks were often inspired by what he saw in nature. Especially appreciated, and still much sought after today, were his dragonfly and cherry blossom motifs. A further famous artist was the architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) who tended to create stained glass artworks in the mission and prairie styles.