As part of my commitment to my business plan and my on-going professional development I attended a ‘Glass Painting Course’ at Pearsons Glass in Liverpool. (Yeah, blah-blah.  Really, I just wanted to go!)

I had touched a bit on painting when doing my night class some years ago and I had really enjoyed it. The detail and texture that you can add using fired vitreous paints adds another dimension to your work that really appeals to me.

Our instructor for the day was called Cat and she was great; really informative but down to earth. We got down to the practical almost straightaway, mixing paints and applying. We applied ‘outline’ to a cherry design which then went in the kiln and then we got to dabble with shading techniques whilst this was ‘cooking’.  I enjoyed practicing matting techniques, where apparently it is ‘all in the elbow’ using a large badger brush to create an even, flat mat. You can then work on your ‘mat’ with a variety of techniques. As I wanted to explore how I could enhance my existing practice I messed about with feather plumage. Using a scgraffito technique you can scrape away the mat using wooden sticks or ‘scrubber’ brushes; fascinating and addictive. I wolfed down my lunch as I was itching to get back scratching!

With our ‘cherry outline’ fired it was now time to mess about with enamels. These come in a variety of colours and can be mixed, blended and applied in a similar way to the vitreous paints. I shaded my cherries with ruby red enamel and then messed about with a mix of red and greens to produce some ‘apple wallpaper.’  Unfortunately, (with firing times etc.)  I was unable to bring away my work, but watch this space for photos in the future.

What a great day though and I look forward to seeing my samples.