Zooziis
2005-09-09, 11:41am
Jo, wanted more information on the bead I showed in the gallery today. I figured I'd start a new thread so it doens't get lost in the gallery...
The bead is shown here.
I made the bead, which was one color, the almond from Uroboros. The bead was the head (a cone) and hair and a nose. I added the lime green sucker dots at the base for the necklace and the top of the head. Put it in the kiln, annealed and when it was cool....
You need to provide the enamel paint with a "tooth" to dig into, or it will "slide off the surface". Kate Fowle recommends using enamels for this purpose, just sift on in the flame when you make the bead. I have found that etching the bead works well too, and that's what I tend to do. It does make the finished surface semi matte, which you may not want, but if that's the case, use enamels. Steel wool is supposed to work too, and Foofaraw has had great success with that, but I have not...Try all three and decide what you like best.
Once your piece is "prepped"...
I used the watercolor enamels from Thompson, for the hair. It comes in a cake that you just use like a normal water color. To keep in mind: the glass does not absorb the color (like watercolor paper does), so you want to keep water to a minimum. Also, make sure you do not combine colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, or you get a brown, yucky color. However, if you want two colors that are opposite, you can do that, and I'll get into that later...
I also use the acrylic paints by Thompson, to provide a bit more definition. I used the watercolors for the back ground and vase on the triptic necklace, but I used the acrylics for the dots on the vase, the flower and the leaves.
You want to let the water color dry before you add the acrylic...I use a hair dryer to speed the process, but be careful because the air from that will move your paint...for the background on that necklace, that didn't matter, but the hair could have bled to the face.
The eyelashes on the face (Jo was particularly intrested in that) were done with acrylic black and an extremely thin brush.
I used the tip of the handle of my paint brush for the dots of silver on the nose and the "Marilyn Monroe" piercing. That silver color was also also from Thompson, and it's call "Liquid Bright Palladium". It goes on brown and fires to a shiney silver, very metallic.
After it's painted, you put it in the kiln. I put it in a cold kiln, then raise the temp to 1150 over 1 hour. It takes 20 minutes for the paint to adhere, so I hold it at 1150 for 20 minutes, then over 1 hour I reduce to 950 degrees. Hold 1 hour, then reduce as normal.
Now, if you want to layer colors or use colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel but don't want mucky brown, you can put one layer on, go through the kiln process. Then add more paint when the bead is cool, and when it's done do the kiln process again.
Your bead can go back in the flame from the kiln, if you want, so you can add more glass details over the paint. I did that with the little doll shown here. I used glass paint, then fired, pulled out to the flame and added powedered enamels in the flame. Worked fine...
Lots of possibilities! Have fun, if you try it. I'm willing to answer questions if I can, but do not profess to know everything :)
The bead is shown here.
I made the bead, which was one color, the almond from Uroboros. The bead was the head (a cone) and hair and a nose. I added the lime green sucker dots at the base for the necklace and the top of the head. Put it in the kiln, annealed and when it was cool....
You need to provide the enamel paint with a "tooth" to dig into, or it will "slide off the surface". Kate Fowle recommends using enamels for this purpose, just sift on in the flame when you make the bead. I have found that etching the bead works well too, and that's what I tend to do. It does make the finished surface semi matte, which you may not want, but if that's the case, use enamels. Steel wool is supposed to work too, and Foofaraw has had great success with that, but I have not...Try all three and decide what you like best.
Once your piece is "prepped"...
I used the watercolor enamels from Thompson, for the hair. It comes in a cake that you just use like a normal water color. To keep in mind: the glass does not absorb the color (like watercolor paper does), so you want to keep water to a minimum. Also, make sure you do not combine colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, or you get a brown, yucky color. However, if you want two colors that are opposite, you can do that, and I'll get into that later...
I also use the acrylic paints by Thompson, to provide a bit more definition. I used the watercolors for the back ground and vase on the triptic necklace, but I used the acrylics for the dots on the vase, the flower and the leaves.
You want to let the water color dry before you add the acrylic...I use a hair dryer to speed the process, but be careful because the air from that will move your paint...for the background on that necklace, that didn't matter, but the hair could have bled to the face.
The eyelashes on the face (Jo was particularly intrested in that) were done with acrylic black and an extremely thin brush.
I used the tip of the handle of my paint brush for the dots of silver on the nose and the "Marilyn Monroe" piercing. That silver color was also also from Thompson, and it's call "Liquid Bright Palladium". It goes on brown and fires to a shiney silver, very metallic.
After it's painted, you put it in the kiln. I put it in a cold kiln, then raise the temp to 1150 over 1 hour. It takes 20 minutes for the paint to adhere, so I hold it at 1150 for 20 minutes, then over 1 hour I reduce to 950 degrees. Hold 1 hour, then reduce as normal.
Now, if you want to layer colors or use colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel but don't want mucky brown, you can put one layer on, go through the kiln process. Then add more paint when the bead is cool, and when it's done do the kiln process again.
Your bead can go back in the flame from the kiln, if you want, so you can add more glass details over the paint. I did that with the little doll shown here. I used glass paint, then fired, pulled out to the flame and added powedered enamels in the flame. Worked fine...
Lots of possibilities! Have fun, if you try it. I'm willing to answer questions if I can, but do not profess to know everything :)