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This is our review of Pebeo Vitrail Glass Paint , the normal solvent, transparent glass paint made by Pebeo. We have already reviewed both Pebeo’s Fantasy Moon and Fantasy Prisme paints both of which are made with the same base.
We really wanted to like this paint. Having reviewed their other two paints which were really impressive, so we thought there would be no issue with this one. It turned out to be not quite so simple as that, as you will read below.
To summarize (for those who don’t want to read the full article). This is a good paint which I shall continue to use. There are however a few issues which need to be taken into account in order to get the most out of your painting.
This review is based on the 14 colours we had access to. The full range actually contains 26 different colours.
Pebeo Vitrail Glass Paint. The Review.
Out of the 14 we tried:
- Three weren’t transparent at all. This isn’t to do with Pebeo, it’s the same with every brand of glass paint. It is impossible for colours such as Black, White, Gold (Pearl White?) etc. to be transparent. This isn’t something to worry about but should be taken into account when buying paints and working out colour schemes.
- At least three of the paints gave a rather mottled look when dried. These are the Sky Blue, Parma and Chatreuse (the Greengold did the same but to a lesser extent). Again this isn’t something to worry about. It can be a nice effect on certain pieces. Just be aware of it again when making colour choices.
- Some of the colours are really strong. Whilst this is a bonus when doing thin coats on 3d objects it means the paints have to be lightened for flood fill work (use the lightener/clear glass paint NOT the thinners). The strength and therefore amount of lightener required differed from colour to colour. Deep Blue was probably the strongest colour whilst Brown, Greengold and Turquoise also required some lightener to be added. Again this is something to take into account. Don’t forget to order some clear/lightener AND some spare bottles to mix it in.
- Some of the colours tend to separate when not used for a while. Make sure you give them a good stir or shake an hour or so before you want to use them.
That all sounds a bit negative but there were lots of good points as well:
- The paint flowed well and due to the strength of the colours it was great for 3d work as well as flood filling (lightening when required).
- There are some really fantastic colours in the range which give good transparency right out of the bottle. These include; Crimson, Lemon, Orange and Pink etc. (Although I did find the names of the paints and the actual colours didn’t match all the time. The “Pink” looks to me more like reddish orange and the “Yellow” looks like a light orange. Have a look at the colour chart and see what you think.
- One of the huge plus points with this paint for me is it can be used together with Pebeo’s Fantasy Prisme and Fantasy Moon. These 3 types of paint together give some great effects.
Pebeo Vitrail Glass Paint Summery.
On the whole this is a good paint which I personally will be sicking with for a while at least. OK there is a bit of faffing about mixing paints with lightener which is always a messy process and requires extra bottles etc. This is what you have to do when you want to use a single paint for both flood fill and 3d work.
Pebeo Vitrail Glass Paint Purchasing Options.
There are two versions of the “Discovery Set”, one with 6x20ml paints in it and the other with 12x20ml. The second set in particular will give you a good idea of the range. 20ml of paint goes a surprisingly long way.
The whole range of colours is sold in individual 45ml pots and 16 of the colours are available in 250ml size.
The clear/lightener doesn’t seem to get a mention in Pebeo’s colour chart but shouldn’t be forgotten. We believe it is available in both 45ml and 250ml sizes (The official name is “Lightening Medium”.) Do NOT be tempted to try and lighten the colours using the white, transparent paints work differently from “normal” paints. You will end up with a lighter version of your colour but you will change it to opaque).
Finally there are 10 specific Opaque colours available in the Vitrail range. we haven’t reviewed these but thought you might like to know they exist.
i am confused as heck when it comes to which paint is the best to use./ gallery glass, solvent based, enamels…which which which. arrrrgh and then on top of that i cant seem to find out what the name of the solvent based ones are. i want to make my family a glass painting for christmas but i am afraid i will have to wait til after the book arrives that i ordered “the complete guide to glass painting. maybe finally in there i can find out what it is EXACTLY I AM IN NEED OF
What sort of thing were you thinking of making?
p.s. Thats a great book you’ve ordered. I always recommend it for both beginners and more experienced glass painters.
Where can the book be purchased?
Which book are you talking about or do you mean the paint?
I love the Pebeo paints for glass but I am having an issue with the paint shrinking in some areas from the edges of the outliner when it dries. Is there anything I can do about this?
I’ve never had an issue with it shrinking away from the outliner. It is however quite common not to really paint up to the outliner in the first place even if, at first glance it looks as if you have! If that turns out to be the issue then there are a couple of solutions. One is to lift the piece up carefully every now and then as you are painting. The change in perspective should show you if you have left any gaps. My preferred solution is to use a lightbox. That will show up any gaps or even any places where the paint is just really thin. Lightboxes used to be expensive but you can pick them up really reasonably on Ebay and Amazon now-a-days.