Celebration Sun Catcher. Part 2. Piping and Painting.

Well in this second part of the celebration sun catcher we concentrate on the piping and painting. This is fairly bread and butter stuff for most glass painters. Working on a flat surface means you can use the flood fill technique but to do this you should use one of the flowing glass paints.

Obvious, as always you don’t have to copy my design. I will make the design available in the designs section of the site (minus the wording).  I will also make two templates available to help with the wording. To make the letter spacing etc. as normal as possible on these templates, please don’t put your letter IN the box. Instead actually use the box itself to help you form the letter whenever possible. I have done two versions of the lettering template, one for phrases with an even number of words/spaces and one for an odd number.

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Equipment and Materials.

• The Design.
• Outliner.
• Greaseproof paper (parchment paper) if you want to make a piping bag.
• Flowing Glass Paint. (Colours to suit).
• Paint Brush(es). I prefer a solid one.
• Spirit Level.
• Craft Knife.
• Kitchen Towel.
• Sissors.
• Lightbox (If yo have one it does make life easier but don’t worry if not. A sheet of white paper will do).
• Blu-tack.

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Method for Piping and Painting.

Firstly you should ensure your glass is completely clean. Wash with soapy water to get rid of any greasy finger prints etc. Then rinse and dry.

Do one final check that the lead is well stuck down. This needs to be tight especially where you are going to paint up to. You don’t want any paint seeping underneath.

Now blu-tack your design underneath the glass.

Make you piping bag (if you are using one ) and start piping. I find it best to start towards the middle of the piece and work my way outwards. This saves leaning over any wet outlining. If you haven’t done any piping before I suggest you look at one of are articles on it in the “Guides” section.

One piped and dry you should go over it to check of any errors. Cut out any you find using the craft knife and then pipe in again. Repeat this again is necessary

Painting.

Once you have finished the outlining and it is dry then you are ready to paint.

Take the design off the back and place your work either on a lightbox or a sheet of white paper. Use the spirit level to ensure this is flat.

Now you can start painting. Again I let to start towards the middle but I also like to do the darker colours first, so I do a mixture of both. Ensure you leave an area to go at least tacky dry before you paint the area next to it. Again if you haven’t done any of this flood fill type painting before I suggest you read the relevant section in our guides.

Summery.

And that is basically it. This is quite a simple project although you can make it harder or easier depending on the complexity of the design you use. I’ve made 100s of these sun catchers: Christmas ones, celebration ones, childrens ones, flower ones and many more. It really is a versatile item to make especially as a present, gift or maybe even to sell.