The Process for Art on Glass
 
Inspiration and imagination

Most of my pieces are flowers and I am particularly known for key pieces such as the wonderful red poppy that features so prominently on these pages. 

All my work is created freehand. 

The process itself is an art as the methods I use mean that no two pieces can ever be the same except for their quality and the passion I put into each and every one. 		 
     

 

Initial Ideas, sketches and drawings

All my pieces begin as sketches so that I can play around with the composition and create a pencil drawing plan of how I see a piece of work looking.  This is useful for me but also for commission pieces so that I can send ideas to clients and we can discuss the composition before I move on to the next stage.

 

  

   

Process to Glass

I work freehand, straight onto clean clear glass without any templates. I only use sketches that I have drawn for customers as a guide, if I’m working on a commission piece.

I use a paste form of material, usually lead coloured to draw my topic, this is laid onto the glass. This has to dry for 24-48 hours.

 
   
Colour

I then add colour by applying a liquid glass medium, the colours have to be worked with quickly and extremely precisely, blending and bleeding. This part of the process is completed in one layer, so knowing which style of brush work and markings, and how I want the finished colours to look has to be thought through  and planned prior to starting, as I cannot change any of this once I have started this process. This has to dry for a minimum of 48 hours. If I am the using any gold or copper coloured overlay this is then applied, it is left to dry for a further 24 hours.		  
   
Firing

The glass is then heated to 150 degrees, this fires all the materials together, making the finished item resistant to fade in full sunlight.		  
     

The finished piece

This method and style creates a raised surface on the glass, which not only looks but feels beautiful, so it's not only visual art but also a very tactile piece of work as well.

To keep it clean, shining and bright, you just simply wipe it with a damp cloth, and then polish with a dry cloth. Do not use any chemical sprays or cleaners, just warm water, and soft cloth.

The same process can be used on mirrors as well as glass.