transparent enamels 1200 F - brands

[Maggie Abdel Rahman]

Hello
I would appreciate your advice before buying enamels that would mature at 1200 F max.
I need transparent enamels to use after kiln casting or fusing. . In the meantime I don't want the enamels to be shiny, like ferro for example... I posted some images as an example of what I have in mind. Thanks a lot for your suggestions.

[Vonon]

Kathy Peterson's The Good Stuff has a selection of paints that are modified for use on glass and mature below 1200 F. Her store is mainly geared toward porcelain painting but she carries a very nice selection of stuff for glass.

http://www.thegoodstuff.com/glass-paint ... plies.html

[Bert Weiss]

Reusche has some transparent colors that mature around 1200 or 1250ºF The top picture could use them. If you were to underfire them, they would come out matte. The bottom picture looks to me like some sort of etching away of thin layers of glass applied by a glass blower. It is hard to tell in a photo.

[Maggie Abdel Rahman]

Yes, it is probably a cameo vase but the pink pastel close to the rim looks like enamal applied as a final touch. I think that something similar can be produced using kiln casting + enamels.

[Maggie Abdel Rahman]

Kathy Peterson's The Good Stuff has a selection of paints that are modified for use on glass and mature below 1200 F. Her store is mainly geared toward porcelain painting but she carries a very nice selection of stuff for glass.

http://www.thegoodstuff.com/glass-paint ... plies.html

The paints look very interesting. Thanks for giving me the link !

[Don Burt]

I second Vonon's recommendation. Kathy Peterson's are good German stuff.

Matteness is at odds with transparency. They aren't opposites, but scattering light at the surface (matteness) doesn't help transparency's cause.
KP makes a 'silk' glass paint that has nice characteristics, but in my experience they don't mature anywhere near as low as they would need to be used on finished form glassware. Same with her metallic glass paints. I've talked to her about it, but she stands by her specifications. The stuff doesn't stick to my glass at low-fire temps, and its not a matter of just a difference between her porcelain kiln's effective heat-work rate compared to my glass kilns. Nice paint, but it won't melt at 1100F.

The transparent glass paint though, works fine at <1100F temps.

[Bert Weiss]

Yes, it is probably a cameo vase but the pink pastel close to the rim looks like enamal applied as a final touch. I think that something similar can be produced using kiln casting + enamels.

I was once tasked with getting that red sunset haze on a piece of acid etched stained glass. I tested every red I could get my hands on. Only one worked for me, the rest turned some shade of gray. I sprayed the red on with a car paint sprayer. I got the look I wanted. The next challenge was to photograph it, which was even harder.

[Maggie Abdel Rahman]

Yes, it is probably a cameo vase but the pink pastel close to the rim looks like enamal applied as a final touch. I think that something similar can be produced using kiln casting + enamels.

I was once tasked with getting that red sunset haze on a piece of acid etched stained glass. I tested every red I could get my hands on. Only one worked for me, the rest turned some shade of gray. I sprayed the red on with a car paint sprayer. I got the look I wanted. The next challenge was to photograph it, which was even harder.

I am amazed how you got out of this tricky situation bec red is problematic, let alone painting a "haze" with it !

[Maggie Abdel Rahman]

I second Vonon's recommendation. Kathy Peterson's are good German stuff.

Matteness is at odds with transparency. They aren't opposites, but scattering light at the surface (matteness) doesn't help transparency's cause.
KP makes a 'silk' glass paint that has nice characteristics, but in my experience they don't mature anywhere near as low as they would need to be used on finished form glassware. Same with her metallic glass paints. I've talked to her about it, but she stands by her specifications. The stuff doesn't stick to my glass at low-fire temps, and its not a matter of just a difference between her porcelain kiln's effective heat-work rate compared to my glass kilns. Nice paint, but it won't melt at 1100F.

The transparent glass paint though, works fine at <1100F temps.

I think I need to experiment and see which line is suitable. If the temperature needs to be higher than 1150F for "silk" paint then I will look for a solution, like keeping the "core" of the casted vase or vessel in place while firing the enamels, as a way of support

[Maggie Abdel Rahman]

Reusche has some transparent colors that mature around 1200 or 1250ºF The top picture could use them. If you were to underfire them, they would come out matte. The bottom picture looks to me like some sort of etching away of thin layers of glass applied by a glass blower. It is hard to tell in a photo.

Bert,
By exploring what Reusche sells, I found transparent colors and enamels both firing at 1050 - 1080 F. The line you mentioned is the "traditional stainers' colors" firing at 1200 to 1250. So I guess I will go for the first option, unless you have tried this line and didn't get a satisfactory result.

[Bert Weiss]

Yes, it is probably a cameo vase but the pink pastel close to the rim looks like enamal applied as a final touch. I think that something similar can be produced using kiln casting + enamels.

I was once tasked with getting that red sunset haze on a piece of acid etched stained glass. I tested every red I could get my hands on. Only one worked for me, the rest turned some shade of gray. I sprayed the red on with a car paint sprayer. I got the look I wanted. The next challenge was to photograph it, which was even harder.

I am amazed how you got out of this tricky situation bec red is problematic, let alone painting a "haze" with it !

This has been the most "important" piece I ever made. It was a collaboration with artist Neil Welliver. Neil gave me an artist proof of one of his woodcut prints. I photographed it, projected it on the wall, and he drew the leadline, then told me to copy the rest. I would speak with him on the phone to discuss progress. When I had all the glass etched, painted and fired, he came to look at it. He didn't like the way the top of the sky looked disjointed from the trees below. There was a clear area between them. So, he said to me, "paint it red". As you know, this was easier said than done. I found one of Reusche's colors, blood red, did the trick. I did think it looked a little odd, having a horizontal line in the sky between blue and red. Several years later, I was on a ferry boat going out to Monhegan Island, off the coast of Maine, when I saw the exact sky I had created. It was one of the most magical and happy moments of my life. The window is now permanently installed in the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland Maine. The print is in my living room... I probably still have that packet of blood red in my collection of colors. The project was done somewhere in the mid to late 1980's.

[Bert Weiss]

Reusche has some transparent colors that mature around 1200 or 1250ºF The top picture could use them. If you were to underfire them, they would come out matte. The bottom picture looks to me like some sort of etching away of thin layers of glass applied by a glass blower. It is hard to tell in a photo.

Bert,
By exploring what Reusche sells, I found transparent colors and enamels both firing at 1050 - 1080 F. The line you mentioned is the "traditional stainers' colors" firing at 1200 to 1250. So I guess I will go for the first option, unless you have tried this line and didn't get a satisfactory result.

When I first started to respond, I wrote that most transparent enamels are in the 1050ºF range. Then I remembered that there are some in the 1250 range, so I left the first part out. The 1050 colors are designed to fire on glassware such that it doesn't slump. They all have a high lead content, so you can't place the color anywhere near the edge. The 1250 colors were designed for firing on flat glass or slumped glass. Sometimes they were called bending colors. Much has changed in the vitreous color manufacturing world since the 80's. I am not sure about today, but not long ago, you could only purchase many low fire transparents in Germany. They were not sent to the USA. I don't know the present status since Ferro bought Hereaus's color division. Don Burt is more on top of suppliers for boutique vitreous colors. You can look for European sources though.

There is another alternative. You can use colors designed to be baked around 400ºF. They are not the same as vitreous colors, but in the hand of a talented artist, they can look quite good. These colors are designed for bottle and glassware decoration.

[Brad Walker]

... I wrote that most transparent enamels are in the 1050ºF range.

To piggyback on this, the two vases shown at the top of the page were most likely done with enamels or paints that matured at lower than 1200F. Otherwise, they would have distorted in the firing.

[Bert Weiss]

Brad, Has Ferro brought in any of Hereaus's lowfire transparents in to the USA since they merged? Ferro used to make them In Germany but did not export them to the USA. Hereaus did bring theirs here, before the merger. They both made the best high quality transparents.

[Bert Weiss]

... I wrote that most transparent enamels are in the 1050ºF range.

To piggyback on this, the two vases shown at the top of the page were most likely done with enamels or paints that matured at lower than 1200F. Otherwise, they would have distorted in the firing.

It is hard to say exactly how the cameo glass is made. Generally, they apply a thin layer while the glass is on the pipe, then sandblast it away after it is cool. They may well have painted the red mist on, or applied it with powder while hot, beneath the black layer.

[Buttercup]

Maggie, these butterflies were painted with Josephine transparent enamels fired at 1085℉, then turned off. Jen
EDIT: Just looked at my notes: Sky and leaves are Josephine other colours are Fay Good. Yellow butterfly has Reusche bistre brown, stencil black and tracing black border detail in wings, fired 1 hour to 1200℉, 5 min hold off. Enamels fired 1 hour to 1080℉, 5 min hold, off.

[Maggie Abdel Rahman]

Maggie, these butterflies were painted with Josephine transparent enamels fired at 1085℉, then turned off. Jen
EDIT: Just looked at my notes: Sky and leaves are Josephine other colours are Fay Good. Yellow butterfly has Reusche bistre brown, stencil black and tracing black border detail in wings, fired 1 hour to 1200℉, 5 min hold off. Enamels fired 1 hour to 1080℉, 5 min hold, off.

Thanks for sharing this interesting experience. The painting is very attractive !

[Maggie Abdel Rahman]

Hello

Many thanks for all for your suggestions, which were very helpful.
Wishing you a HAPPY EASTER !

[Vonon]

Buttercup, The butterflies are lovely. What did you use for a medium? I ask because you managed to achieve some nice color blending.

[Buttercup]

Thank you, Maggie and Vonon.

The Reusche paints are mixed with clove oil, The enamels are mixed with W & N Liquin. Jen