Spray Painting for Stained Glass

[MM Art Glass]

Hello, everyone! My name's Michelle, and I generally hang out in the glass forums. I'm glad to see that there's an airbrush forum on WetCanvas because that's the direction I think I'm headed, and at this point, I don't have much of a clue.

I do traditional stained glass painting, and I'd like to switch much of that technique (washes, matting) over to airbrush. I've seen some really incredible work done that way on glass. I'm going to start easy (airbrushing solid color onto blown glass ornaments - oooo!) with plans to airbrush matts over sandblasted areas on glass and to airbrush the backgrounds and highlights/shadows on bird and animal portraits.

I have a Badger 250 basic spray gun that I bought years ago for God-knows-what (never used it). I also just bought a Husky, 4-gallon air compressor with 125 max psi (I was limited in what I could get, as I wanted it to be portable).

I'll be using Reusche and FuseMaster glass paints (the glass will be kilned after fusing) and Vitrea (totally different!). I have some reference on how to mix the Reusche for spray painting. I'll be spray painting on float glass and some clear/lightly tinted stained textured glass.

So, help! What do I need to know to proceed? What psi do I spray at? 30? What do I use to clean my spray gun? Can anyone recommend good books, videos or other resources? I think that I'll also need more glass jars and covers - where can I get these?

I did do a search on spray painting and glass, but it came up with very little (actually nothing that I could find) for my situation.

THANK YOU!!

[MM Art Glass]

AND, hope I don't get into trouble for interchanging the terms "spray painting" and "airbrushing".

[Maryl Lehman]

Hi Michelle!

I don't know if I'll be a help or hindrance! I worked in a stained glass studio for two years, doing mainly their glass etchings, but some designing and soldering of the stained glass. I do know that my boss got this brainy idea of me airbrushing some church windows, but he just had me use the paints I was using at home, which were lacquers! (They did sandblast the glass before I painted it.) I kept telling him that they probably wouldn't hold up over a long term. But he was insistant that I paint these windows with the airbrush, so I did it. (He thought it would be faster than hand painting them.) I heard later, long after I had quit working there, that the paint peeled off the glass and the studio had to redo the windows! What a nightmare!

Anyway, just use the proper paints for glass, and bake them on (at least that's what we used to do!). I have been airbrushing for 25+ years, but this is something totally different than what I'm used to! Is the Badger 250 spray gun an airbrush? I use VL and V Paasche airbrushes, and use around 35-40 lbs. of pressure for what I do. Other artists say they use much less, and then others much more! I guess you would have to experiment with the paints---if you have to put them on rather thick, you will need more pressure. I have no idea what these glass paints are as to what type of reducer to use to thin the paints or clean your gun. Read the instructions---they should say what to use. If they're water based, then water, I'd say. And the bottles would have to be purchased wherever they sell the Badger spray guns. Sorry I'm not much help----maybe someone else will have some better advice! I wish you the best! You can e-mail me personally if you want.

~Maryl

[Penny220]

I use to use acrylic enamel on etched (frosted/sandblasted) glass and it never scratched or peeled. This is the same type paint that is still used to color etched glass. Lacquer is a different animal though.

anywho, read the manufacturers direction of thinning the paints for spraying. If they don't give you any then start by cutting 1:1. The airpressure is dependent on how thick the paint is start with 30 and if it clogs or spits go up, if it spiders go down. Your compressor is fine, compressed air is compressed air, the only differences is how clean it is when it goes through the airbrush.

Even if you plan on doing solid colors at first, you may wish to play with light and dark tones by making using additional layers and building them up as you go (shading).

I don't know anything about your airbrush or your paints so...I'm not sure what else you still need to know. This should be quite interesting and fun. I can't wait to see the finished results.

Now questions for you. How much pigment is in the paints prior to firing them? If they are anything like ceramic glazes I hope you have good eyes! How much do these paints flow when they are fired? No overspray problems to worry about (yippy!)

Good luck, have fun. Let us know if you have more questions. It would be nice if you did a WIP on your first few pieces for us. I don't think anyone here has ever done this before so we can learn together.

[Milo]

I would like to hear what you ended up using and how you liked it. Also be careful with atomizing some of those paints and your breathing health. Make sure you are in a well ventilated area and have the right mask gear for it. (Again I don't know much about those paints and don't want to say something I am not qualified for, I even wear a mask when spraying my regular acrylics now but thats me.)

[Tigerquill]

Michelle,
Some paints used for stained glass art are actually glazes, as you may know. You may need a kiln to fire these pieces in stages, but the effect is worth it because it is permanet. You would need to airbrush these pieces ALWAYS WEARING A RESPIRATOR... Peabo Paints do not need to be fired, but they are not as tough as the glazes. They come in great colors. Anything can be applied by airbrush if it is thinned enough and at that point you can experiment with different pressures on your compressor to see which would work best with your media. For the type of painting you want to do, hopefully that Badger is a two cycle airbrush ( push the trigger down for air and pull back to activate paint flow and increase atomization)....usually beginning airbrush artists learn with water based paints and advance to other media later. There is a magazine called glass craftsman,Issue number 180,(www.glasscraftsman.com) that has some good articles on painting glass for stained glass use and I would suggest basic airbrushing instruction to get the feel for the equipment. Tigerquill

[Leaflin]

Hi Michelle
I can't be of any help at all, but I did want to welcome you to the forum.

WELCOME

[ProfessorGreibowitz]

Hi, Michelle!

Welcome and I have no good advice since I have not used any paint for glass or the like. Post back and let us know what happened!


Tim

[MM Art Glass]

Thank you so much, everyone, for the advice and for the welcomes!

Are spray guns and airbrushes two different things? I've uploaded a pic of my "spray gun" from the instruction booklet. It says to turn the air source on and then press the trigger (on top). Doesn't look like it allows for a lot of control. I think I may be upgrading once I learn the limits of this one.

The Reusche and Fusemaster paints are basically powdered glass. They come in powder form, and you add water (or commercial mediums) and a binder such as gum arabic. There is a lot of pigment in the paints (my eyes aren't that great), but some of them have to be applied pretty thickly. The kiln firing can change the colors, and the brown matting paints especially lose 30% of their density.

I did see that Glass Craftsman article. That was one thing that inspired me to get going with this.

Mmm..good point. I need a good respirator.

What is spidering? And what does WIP stand for?

I'm more than happy to share what I learn! Thanks again, everyone!

[Penny220]

Spray guns are different from airbrushes. You have a single action external mix airbrush. You will probably wish to upgrade in the future. What you have should be good for now but may cause some problems. It's hard to tell if you will have problems or not because none of us has any real experience with your paints. Yes, you require a resperator. There is a post regarding the types and how to fit them somewhere in this forum. Just because the paint requires it to be thick on the glass does not mean that you have to spray it that way. You can simply apply layer after layer until you get it built up to where you want it. Spidering is when the paint is too thin or the pressure is to great and you get a "splat" that looks like a spider (a body with a bunch of legs). If the paint is too thick it will clog regardless of airpressure and you will go from zero to globs coming out and then back to zero, this is spitting. Spitting also occurs if too much paint gets built up in the cap of the airbrush but since you don't have one, you don't have to worry about that.

[Penny220]

Single action verses double action airbrushes. Inside of an airbrush there is a needle. To increase the size of the spray pattern and the amount of paint that is coming through the airbrush you pull back on the needle. With a double action airbrush this is done by pulling back on the trigger. With a single action this is done by an adjusting screw on the end of the airbrush. Since you have a single action you will have to read your instructions and find out where/how this is done. The good news is that for what you are doing with the airbrush once you adjust your spray pattern you won't have cause to change it (for the time being anyway) so this is not an inconvience to you and might work to your advantage because there is less control required with these types of airbrushes. You simply adjust your spray pattern (needle travel) and press the trigger (air) and you are painting. Less to learn at the moment.

I hope I explained this clear enough, if I confused you, I or someone else will try to clarify some more.

Penny

[bitterness_and_honey]

Practice your airbrush technique on paper with with cheap paints.

The issue you may face is the courseness of the paints. (I am admitantly not familiar with the Fuse master paints but with Thomson enamels the default is
80 grit) you might need a mortor and pestle to create a finer paint mix, to flow through an airbush with out clogging.
If you use a spray gun it may not be an issue.


Read your MSDS for the paints.
Again I'm not familiar with the Fuse master paints but a few ceramic glazes and Vitreous enamels contain water soluable cobalt. Breathing a fine mist of cobalt probably would not be a good idea. Do Fuse Master paints contain lead?

Let us know how it goes.

[MM Art Glass]

Thank you, bitterness_and_honey! The coarseness of the Reusche and FuseMaster paints actually depends upon the color - there's a wide variance. For those that are more coarse, grinding them doesn't make much difference. However, there are quite a few mediums that they can be mixed with to thin them down (ie: for a mechanical pen, lavender oil would be about the only choice that would make the paint thin enough to flow through).

Most colors contain lead. There is a lead-free category in the Reusche (I'm not very familiar with the FuseMaster line, yet) that does have quite a few color. Safety will be my prime concern!

And thank you, too, Penny, for the clarifications. Yes, they do really help.

[dread]

Dont know if its too late to add a few things
Finished a day with Ken Leap (noted stained glass artist) and had a course on airbrushing the reusche for mattes -
Use a single action as the double uses the whole handle and needle and can clog.
Need the #5 size (larger nozzles) so they dont clog
I am using a pasche single action with a #5 nozzle - its great and works fine
You just have to watch out you dont clog - as it sprays out it will accumulate around the nozzle j-just keep it clean
other than that its pretty easy -

[Penny220]

I'm glad you didn't forget to post. How about posting pictures when you are done.