Painting on glass

I was researching stained glass and came across a website that talks
about painting on stained glass:
http://www.robbinsstudios.com

The artist claims that she paints on the glass with ground up glass,
and that this technique is a dying artform from the Renaissance. Is
that true? I found some other sites about that talk about this:
http://www.buildingconservation.com/...glasspaint.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14241a.htm

Robbins work is undeniably beautiful. Can somebody give me a more
objective view? What are the advantages of this technique versus
other methods of painting used today? She cites Albinas Elskus as her
mentor. Who is he?

There are several kinds of painting on glass
What she is talking about is painting with true enamels which are ground
up glass and flux that must be fired at about 1000F to adhere to the glass.
(Modern enamel paint is called that because its gloss finish looks like
glass enamels) I am not sure it is dying, since you can buy compatible
enamels for most kinds of glass from Thompson Enamels.
Older than this is staining glass with silver compounds - also requiring
firing - which is how the dark details of people's faces were put on colored
stained glass windows - produces a yellowish brown shading.
Several people paint on glass using ordinary enamel paint that does not
require firing, including reverse painting, where the foreground details are
painted first and the background last and it is viewed through the glass.

--
Mike Firth
Hot Glass Bits Furnace Working Website
http://users.ticnet.com/mikefirth/hotbit46.htm Latest notes

"goffperu" wrote in message
om...
I was researching stained glass and came across a website that talks
about painting on stained glass:
http://www.robbinsstudios.com

The artist claims that she paints on the glass with ground up glass,
and that this technique is a dying artform from the Renaissance. Is
that true? I found some other sites about that talk about this:
http://www.buildingconservation.com/...glasspaint.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14241a.htm

Robbins work is undeniably beautiful. Can somebody give me a more
objective view? What are the advantages of this technique versus
other methods of painting used today? She cites Albinas Elskus as her
mentor. Who is he?

(goffperu) wrote in message . com...
I was researching stained glass and came across a website that talks
about painting on stained glass:
http://www.robbinsstudios.com

The artist claims that she paints on the glass with ground up glass,
and that this technique is a dying artform from the Renaissance. Is
that true? I found some other sites about that talk about this:
http://www.buildingconservation.com/...glasspaint.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14241a.htm

Robbins work is undeniably beautiful. Can somebody give me a more
objective view? What are the advantages of this technique versus
other methods of painting used today? She cites Albinas Elskus as her
mentor. Who is he?


The artist has taken some "artistic liberties" with the facts. There
are 10's of 1000's of stained glass painters throughout the world. She
named 3 as teachers. Elskus wrote what is considered the best book on
glass painting. John Nussbaum among many other things, was the stained
glass painter who designed and worked out the mass produced
"Glassmasters" window hangings. He is now 83 and just taught a
painting glass in Mississippi. And Gene Mallard is a master glass
etcher as well as a great painter.
The methods she uses requires firing the paint in a kiln. The paint
fuses to the surface of the glass. This Is the ONLY permanent form of
glass painting.

The artist has taken some "artistic liberties" with the facts.

Vic, do you mean: 'Elizabeth has mastered the intricacies of glass painting
methods, and is an innovator in this area. Her knowledge of minerology and
glass making has enabled her to reproduce colors and textures that have been
lost to artists for hundreds of years.'.

I'll bet those Phd ceramic engineers at Ferro and Johnson Matthey are
lining up at her door to try and learn those lost secret recipes. "Gold and
silver, imagine that!", as they shake their heads in wonder.

I don't usually put down artists who are just doing what they do. but when
they call themselves masters and innovators and drop the names of those who
truely are masters and innovators, they set themselves up for criticism.

And the mysterious colored enamels that she uses: they're probably not as
permanent as the simpler oxide mixtures that her medieval brethren used, and
that the 'handful' of modern glass painters routinely use for large scale
work.

Maybe it is interesting to know that in the last century there were some
nice books on glasspainting,
however they are from 1890 en further on but give details on painting more
than the new books on the market now. Try to get them somewhere, they are
wunderful to read. Unfortunately they are in German but even then they are
worthwhile. Some of the books a
-Handbuch der Glasmalerei by Friedrich Jaennicke 1890
-Die Glasmalerei Technik und Geschichte by Gottfreid heinersdorf 1914
-Handbuch der Glasmalerei Josef Wolfgang Fischer 1914 Publisher:
Hiersemann- Leipzig
Kind regards
Jaro

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They might have them in the Rakow library at Corning. I'll ask next time I
get up there and maybe get a chance to look at them. Thanks for the tip
Jaro.

"Jaro" wrote in message
...
Maybe it is interesting to know that in the last century there were some
nice books on glasspainting,
however they are from 1890 en further on but give details on painting more
than the new books on the market now. Try to get them somewhere, they are
wunderful to read. Unfortunately they are in German but even then they are
worthwhile. Some of the books a
-Handbuch der Glasmalerei by Friedrich Jaennicke 1890
-Die Glasmalerei Technik und Geschichte by Gottfreid heinersdorf 1914
-Handbuch der Glasmalerei Josef Wolfgang Fischer 1914 Publisher:
Hiersemann- Leipzig
Kind regards
Jaro

--
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