Hi All,
I was woundering if any one has sand blasted a design on glass and then painted that area? I have a customer that wants me to put birds on those glass 8x8 blocks you see in bathrooms and wants them painted. I am woundering what kind of paint I should use and if the glass need to be preped before painting. The paint need to resist glass cleaner if possible. Any one ever tried this? I would like so idea.
thanks
Jim

Craft stores have paints just for glass- they can be set so they are dish washer safe.

For a very interesting effect, you could also "layer" paint on like they do with candy apple paints.

These are quite translucent and contain a lot of clear materials. Since a lot of them are either lacquer, acrylic lacquer or perhaps urethane (today), they should be QUITE durable.

You could apply them with air brushes for truly fine line details if you wanted to.

Apply clear sealer and they should last a nearly a life time, especially on pre-sandblasted glass where the coatings could "bite" and grip well.

Hey NC,

Can you help me a little with the candy apple paints. I am not familiar with these paints, at least I don't think so. Thanks.

Candy colors are much more like glass stains - that is, they are very translucent in nature - not unlike the red coating on candy apples. The intensity of the color depends on how much paint is applied. What you end up with is a very "deep" color that is both rich and vibrant, especially if you put the "coating" over top of a shiney, glittery base.

There was, at one time, a brand name of "Kandy Apple". paint. Now, there are many brands and they are offered by many of the automotive paint companies (IE: BASF, DuPont, PPG/Ditzler, RM, etc). Different painters like different brands based upon how the paint works or the service offered by their suppliers.

There is a brand of specialty paint called "House of Color" or "House of Kolor" that is quite popular with a lot of the reality TV shows. They are doing a lot with paints that are specialy formulated with special pigments. I do not think that candy paints have much pigment - rather, they have what I'd call a "tinting" of the coating, which is pretty much clear resins that carry the tinting.

Go to a professional car paint supplier - they should have color catalogs that you can pick/order from.

Thanks for the details. There is a Dupont distributor around the corner and I'll start there.

My mother paints on glass and porsilain. You have to burn the paint to the glass. I dont remember the temp. I think its around 1000 Celsius.

Hi All,
I wanted to thank every one for your help. I will try your ideas and test the out.
Thanks
Jim

I have done glass blowing and have colored both hot and cold glass and there is a glass paint put out by I believe it is Pebco or something similar that is available in craft stores. It can be baked on at a low temperature in an oven - I have used it on little glass pieces that I have slumped and it works quite well and has a translucent quality. At 1000ºC the glass would melt!

I have colored sandblasted glass but the rough surface will cause it to lose some of its clarity and vibrancy. You might try some plain window glass with the paint and do a sample - one sandblasted and painted, and one painted directly without etching or sandblasting.

Jacqui, Goddess of Chaos, GSOLFOT

Hi All,
It has been a while but I have been researching hot to paint glass blocks and make the paint last, Well the best I can find is Pebeo paints seams to fit the bill. This paint is water base and once you have applied the paint to the area you want you put it into your oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes and the paint is dishwasher safe ( top rack ) and safe for some of the cleaning materials. Also good for out door use. You can check out this site for useage and so on http://www.dickblick.com/zz029/08/ . I also found this paint at Michaels arts supplys. I have bought some but haven't used it yet. Maybe to night. Good luck.
Jim