First project under way

[Matthew Bryan]

Hello all,
Been lurking and reading as much as I can here. Thanks for your shareing here and teaching all who want to learn. I have started my first project. It is a gift for my wife. I am going to make a 18"X18"X1/4" plate glass picture framed in flame maple with a backing in a dark figured mahogany. The picture will be of a fleur de les that has been glue chipped and I want to either outline the image with a sand blasted line, black line, or use fake silver leaf to back two or more arms of the image. I have already chipped the image and it came out well for my first time in my opinion......only a very few plinks as you guys say.

I have gotten some fake silver leaf flakes, size, and sealer from Hobby lobby to try and see how the image will look with that backing. I did a test piece that I am trying all the steps on prior to doing it on the real plate. I taped off an area, applied the size, let dry, put the silver flakes on, tamped the down with a soft brush, let sit, then sealed it with the sealer. .....well that test did not come out as good as I had wished. The surface was not covered 100%, the line I used with tape pulled off strips of the leaf.....not a very clean job and I did not like it at all.

I would still like to add silver leaf on some of the arms if I can....or silver around the image creating an outline. Lastly If I can not add the leaf I guess I can outline the image with black enamal paint.

So any recomendations or words of assistance you guys can provied would be very helpful.

Thanks for any help.
Matthew

[Mike Jackson]

Matthew,
First, good luck on your first glass project. Please feel free to come here and ask a lot of questions.

Here's my advice. One of the beauties of a project like this, especially on glass, is you can always pour a little lacquer thinner on your glass and remove your previous attempts if you do not like what you did. Chalk it up as a learning experience. Normally, I'd suggest that you try some 9" square pieces of glass with new techniques so you don't waste a lot of materials in the learning steps. Maybe that is not an issue here. Anyway, I'd strip the current piece, paint your outlines in black first, whether you use masking or hand paint it, then when it is thoroughly dry, apply your size to the center of the graphic and apply your fill materials. You'll have a clean edge and be a bit sloppy as you only have to stay within the thickness of your black outline.

You'll eventually make enough mistakes trying various techniques that you will know what to actually do first and build a plan of attack for all the steps. That might not sound too encouraging at first, but it is pretty much based on reality. Even if you decide to move forward with your piece the way you have it now, you will have already made a lot of progress by simply attempting the project.

Best regards,
Mike Jackson

[Raymond Chapman]

Good advice from Mr. Jackson. You'll make mistakes...it's just part of the process. It's better to start with a small practice piece that doesn't require a lot of time and materials and use that to test your procedures.

Things just have a way of going wrong....believe me, I know. But it's better to get those out of the way on some small piece than having a large project ruined half way through.

You've got the minds of the best in the business here on this forum. All you have to do is ask.

Good luck with your project.

[Matthew Bryan]

Thanks for all the info guys. I wound up using my sandblasting tool to create a frosted outline. That seemed to be the easiest thing to do at the time and it turned out good. I am going to have to leave a gap between the back of the glass and the mahogany pannel when I frame it all up. That seemed to show off the glue chip area better than laying it flat on the background.....created shadows and such. I figured baby steps first.....next time I will try the painted outline or trying to silver the glue chip area (that is a high cost though.....the small kit I found is high $$$$).

Anyway....thanks again!!