10th February 2025

Doing Shading in Glass Painting.

Doing Shading in Glass Painting.
Doing Shading in Glass Painting.

Doing Shading in glass painting is such a simple technique but it can, at times , make a real difference to the look. Changing some that previously looked flat into something with depth. It isn’t a technique I would use all the time. In fact there are many situations where it wouldn’t suit. For example if you were trying to replicate traditional stained glass. There are however many times when it can make your work look better.Flowers, animals and cartoon/manga / super hero type designs.

There are two main ways of achieving the shaded look. One is easier and the other is even easier!

Whichever method you use you MUST ensure you paint is totally dry before you start. If it isn’t it will ruck up and look pretty bad.


Doing Shading in Glass Painting.

 


Doing Shading in Glass Painting. Technique 1. Double colour.

This first simple technique involves going over certain areas of your work again with the same colour you first used. So if the base is orange, you do a second layer of orange etc. etc. The thicker the second coat then the darker the shading will be.

This technique only works on transparent colours. It doesn’t work on the more opaque types of glass paint such as Fantasy Moon and Prisme.


Shading on Iron Man.
Shading on Iron Man.

Doing Shading in Glass Painting. Technique 2. Grey Paint.

For this technique I mixed up a small bottle of grey paint. This was made by just combining clear glass paint with a few drops of black. Again the amount of paint you put on will determine how dark the shading is but also with this technique, will how light or dark you have made the grey mixture. As is so often the case a bit of testing will help you get it right before you risk it on a proper piece of work.

Once you original painting it totally dry (I normally give it 4 or 5 days) just use the grey in the areas you would like shaded.


Summery.

I should point out right away that I use this technique with Pebeo Vitrail glass paints. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work with other brands but you should test first to ensure it does. Maybe if you do use other brands you could comment below and let us know how you get on.

Originally I preferred the double colour method but the grey method has gown on me over time. The grey tend to give a more authentic shadow look so I think I will be mostly sticking to that in future.

I hope you find this technique useful.

Happy Crafting.

Yours, Bob.

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