Re-painting stained glass

[LuvHim]

Hi! I'm new to this forum. Usually at watercolor though not latelyl
Anyway, I just bought (for a steal) a floor lamp with five stained glass shades. The panels are real stained glass. There is some red in them that I want to make a medium-dark brown.
Can I just paint (on the inside) those panels with glass paint?
Anyone done this before?
Thanks muchm
Linda (LuvHim)

[silberrucken]

Originally Posted by LuvHim

Can I just paint (on the inside) those panels with glass paint?

Sure - there are all sorts of materiels made especially for painting glass - Opaque and translucent colors. Even "dishwasher safe' (but I'm not sure about 'food safe'

Go look here at http://www.dickblick.com/products/delta-glass-paint/ to get started. There are lots and lots of places that sell this sort of stuff - even Hobby Lobby...

[LuvHim]

Thanks! I do order from Dick Blick but also believe my local Michael's carries this paint. At least I've seen this brand there.
Would I want to use translucent? If so, need to remember what mixed with the red already there makes brown. At least at Blicks site there are very few translucent colors.
The panes with red are closest to the bulb but if this is supposedly dishwasher safe I'm sure it'll be fine.
Also, can I use a black matte instead of this glass paint to touch up the leading? And if I mess up, can I take the paint off quickly with alcohol? The real colors on there are actual stained glass, not painted.
Thanks again,
Linda(LuvHim)

[silberrucken]

If you have a Michaels close to you go there. They have two products - the Delta Perm Enamel which is water soluble until it air dries. I believe it works like 'water based varnish' which is a colloidal suspension of water (the carrier) and tiny balls of resin based pigment. Once the water goes away what is left is the hard resin. The other product is by Vitrea and it is heat set. You can use water as a solvent or for cleanup (removal) until you bake it.

Touch up of the lead with black is easy...

Don't forget that color mixing on glass is color addative unlike mixing water or pastels which is subtractive. Your color wheel sort of works backwards. To take red glass look brown to transmitted light it takes blue and green. Just play around with a light layer of blue covered with a light layer of green and see if you like the brown transmitted light. Try a light wash of mixed blue and green & see what happens. (I am basically color inept - My wife keeps threatening to load my closet with 'geranimals' so I color complement my clothing properly...)

Any way - read the lables on the bottles before leaving the store.... The Delta product takes a surface conditioner and a clear cover coat....

[LuvHim]

Well I'm afraid to bake it as I don't know what will happen to the seams and black paint over the soder(sp?).
Thanks for the color into. In mixing paints, someone was looking for a way to mix a burnt sienna which would look lovely too. Some said red+hookers green+deep yellow, then most said instead of the green, an aquamarine blue.
I'll take one of them to Michael's when I go and hopefully there will be someone working who knows what they are doing also!
I may be giving the lamp to my daughter. Maybe the red won't bother her. I know it does me!
Thank you again,
Linda(luvHim)

[silberrucken]

The melting point for the 60/40 solder used for stained glass is 368 degrees f. Vitrea calls for being oven baked at 325 for 40 minutes so it >shouldn't< be a problem. Using black Vitrea over the lead cane would fuse just like the paint on the glass. Erring on the side of caution is no problem if the air dry colors meet your needs (and causes you less concern). Nobody is going to fault you for doing what you think is best (and if they do, they should't be your friend!) Artists do what they do best!!

(I'm the gutsy one - if I melted the solder joints, I'd just get a big old iron and put it back together again...)

Also - red is one of my favorite colors so red glass doesn't bother me, but as I said I'm functionally color challenged...

Long and short - go to Michaels and go shopping!!! That should make anybody feel good!

[Geneva]

The lead solder will start to bend at around 280. You will end up with a flat lamp.
Geneva

[denizen]

Usually, to make brown, you use two colors opposite on the color wheel; so, red+green, yellow+purple, and blue+orange all make brown. But you get different shades of brown depending on how much of each color you use.

I've used the removable air-dry paint on lamp shades. It has held up very well. I think you might want to make this reversible in case you (or some future owner) wants to return to the original (and possibly valuable) color.