Painting on glass

It's called Frosterley Bazaar for a reason - and the reason is, I can't just do one thing!  Last year I began experimenting with painting on glass, firing it in a kiln at 600 degrees C and incorporating it in miniature leaded windows.  Previously, I've made stained glass with 'normal' coloured glass, but this technique brings a whole new level of detail and possibility!

One of my first experiments was a shoal of fish rushing through their underwater world, some emerging from the dark depths, some silhouetted against the light.





The process involved in this is to paint (or 'matt') the glass completely with black paint, and then using nothing more complicated than a pointy stick, to scratch the design through the paint.  It's very like using a scraperboard - mistakes can't be undone, they have to be incorporated (so, COMMIT!) and you have to start thinking in black and white, not shades of grey.



Inspired, some 20 years after the fact, by my marine biology degree, these pieces were put together into this window for a friend which incorporates a favourite headland:



I'm still sewing and knitting (and crocheting a new mad teacosy), but glass is going to predominate in 2017! I hope you like glass!  Happy new year!

Vicky xx