CreativeAnxiety: Glass Carving

Monday, June 18, 2007

Glass Carving

In this method the design is actually carved/engraved on the surface of mirror, It can also be done on glass but the effect of that is not so great as the one of the mirror. This is quite a dangerous technique because you have to engrave the design with the help pf acid for continuous 3-4 days. The acid is quite dangerous itself and then the fumes which comes out of it while it's being worked are also dangerous. But as with all the difficult tasks the results are so smooth and awesome that it seems like it has been done by a machine.

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Waiting to Exhale

Glass Painting :~ I can't say that it's quite a difficult art as compared to other painting mediums like oil on canvas or water colors but it's quite different. The major difference is the surface of glass itself, it's smooth and slippery so the color is not absorbed on it like in canvas or paper; for mirrors and plain glass sheets that does not makes a difference, but when you try to paint on bottles, vases, glasses or even vertical window glasses then it makes your life hell. The colour just come all the way down you put on it. The color also spreads on horizontal glass surfaces so to avoid it first you have to draw the outline of the drawing by lead. It comes either in tubes or dispensers. I use the tubes coz it's easy to maneuver around. So you first make the boundaries for all the design's edges and then fill it with color when it dries up. Because of the same reason the oil based glass paints are made in such a way that they dry faster which brings in another problem. You can't put the color first on the palette and then on the glass like you do with traditional mediums coz it will be dried up in all this movement. To overcome this obstacle, you have to directly take the color from the bottle and put it on the glass. Another facet of this problem is that the glass paints come in basic colors, so you can't make different shades by mixing off basic colors on the palette. So to create other shades you put 1st color on the glass then add the next color at the same place to create your desired color which does not always come out as you desired it to be :S You always have to be so care full that you don't break the glass during your venture, I learnt this the hard way na, I was just finishing one of the paintings and my brother's football had spread my painting in the whole room :'(. And ya you also have to be careful not to get cuts and bruises by the edges of the glass, putting paper tape around the edges of the glass can be a suitable precaution for it. Then you have to first imagine how the design will look like, which technique you would be using because there are like dozens of methods and techniques, which kind of color is needed ( Crystalline/Transparent/Foggy etc.) , which glass to use and so many other decisions... But one thing is for sure after going through so many obstacles the result is simply awesome. There are some positive points to it too like if you go wrong some where you can always scratch the dried off color from the place and get your clean surface again, mind it that it is not so easily done with any other medium. You can also use thinner to clean up the glass if the paint is still wet. Any how I love glass painting, it seems to have so much space for being creative, I see things and I start imagining how can I put it on glass. Every new scene open a vast arena of possibilities with different kind of glass painting techniques. I just hope that once in my life time I'll get the chance to persue my interest as much as I want to. p.s. Enjoy the show na ;)

CreativeAnxiety

Monday, June 18, 2007

Glass Carving

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