Making An Opaque Glass Painiting.

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Opaque paints are mostly used for making conventional paintings like figures and still life as against stained glass which is more appropriate for making lamp shades and sun catchers,due to fact that transparent paints used for stained glass has property of reflecting light which is not in the opaque colors.

Image by:everything-stained-glass

Here I will tell you how to work with opaque paints but the fun part is that we do not necessarily need opaque colors ,we can do our job even with the transparent colors and have the same opaque effect.Interseting ...isn't it???

Things You Need:

• Glass (any size and thickness you wish)
• Craft knife(for cutting leads)
• Liquid lead(available in bottles and tubes from arts and crafts shop)
• Opaque glass paints or Transparent glass paints(available in variety of brands and shades from arts and crafts shop)
• Thin marker(for tracing the design on the glass)
• Paint brushes of various sizes.

Method:

1. Get your template and glass ready as done earlier while making stained glass .
2. Trace the design and outline it in one of the two ways: either in one step with liquid lead or first copying the design on glass with trace paper and then making the outlines with the liquid lead. For details and video tutorials please follow the outlining techniques done in stained glass earlier.
3. After the outlines of the design are completely dry, it’s time to fill in the colors but here the method is bit different.
4. If you have opaque paints with you,then simply start painting as done before but not the overflow as in stained glass.All we want is nice and completely filled template.
5. But if you don't have opaque paints and can't even get some then don't think that you can't make  opaque glass painting,stop feeling low and start working with transparent colors.YES,with some mixing of transparent colors and little effort ,you can have a beautiful opaque painting in front of you.
6. If you remember, we mixed the transparent colors with lacquer thinner for making the stained glass,but now here we are going to use tansparent colors,but we will not make their consistency thin by mixing it with the thinner,rather we will make the desired color opaque.
7. A transparent paint can be made opaque by adding white paint to it,but please make sure to use white paint that belongs to the transparent paint box.
8. As per your convenience, you can either first make all your required opaque paints by mixing of the transparent colors with white and then do all filling of color in your design,or do it gradually.
9. I recommend to move step by step,first add some white paint to some part of  the portion of your design you are working on,then take another brush and add your desired paint to the same portion but at some distance to the white color added,carefully begin mixing the two colors.
10. If your template is floral,then shading effect will enhance its beauty,so slow and careful  mixing of the two colors will make it easy for you to give the shading effect and the variation of lighter and darker shade.
11. But if you want to have filling of single color then simply go on with the mixing and adding colors.
12. After your design is completely painted and dried,reapply the lead and again let it dry.
13. Remember that this glass painting will not be displayed with the painted side at front,rather it will be in the reverse direction.