Hey Kent, Thanks for the beta testing and thanks very much for the favorable review. We haven't got the formula into powdered form yet, but the new liquid formula should be up on our website today or tomorrow. Isn't it great when you can find a new formulation that works well AND is less toxic than ...

The thing, in this case your beautiful hand work, does indeed speak for itself.

For information on Mountain Varnish, I suggest you contact the Chicago Historical Soceity at http://www.chicagohs.org/research/resources/architecture. You could ask them to start with a directory called Industrial Chicago, The Building Interests published between 1891 and 1896. Its a chatty book tha...

This is a bit off track, but Dave mentioned glue and I was reminded of an article in Glass Craftsman magazine. (June/July 2004) Janet Zambai used dried Elmer's glue as a sandblast resist. She painted it on with a brush and let it dry hard (at least overnight) before blasting. When you're done you ju...

Dave - thanks very much for showing us the process! It sure does help to have pictures - and to see it step by step. But I can't quite tell - are the wood strips taped to the glass itself or to a board under the glass? If they are taped to the glass itself don't you get a clear border where they blo...

Silver Strip does not have a shelf life but if your glass has been sitting around awhile it may have acquired a thin layer of grease/dust/smog something that is blocking the action. As Larry says, the abrasive in the Bon Ami should help. You can also make a paste with silver strip and pumice (to sav...

Larry - Amazing as always. I can just imagine a bunch of guys a hundred years from now having big discussions about how you did that. Eat your heart out, Rawson and Evans. But in the here and now I was wondering what brand of mask you use. Galena or lead nitrate mirror will lift paint mask but I dis...

Hey Thanks Kent! I was wondering how your project was going. And thanks for the note on the sulfur content of mineral spirits versus naptha. A very useful thing to know.

Ahhhhh yes. I have spent the last 20 years taking old glass out of discarded sashes to repair stained glass windows. I love "cylinder" glass and I've posted pictures from 1923 showing how it was made at http://www.stainedglassltd.com . Truly fire polished and full of life inspite of scratc...

Hi Bruce, I think your main problem is using oil based enamel next to the copper - in the outlines and in the backing paint. Using this kind of paint next to real gold leaf is not a problem because gold is the only non-reactive metal. It never tarnishes. Copper tarnishes easily and is probably react...

I'm very glad to hear that you're going to be keeping the original signs intact. So many restoration projects remind me of my mother's favorite joke. A father is talking to his son and says "Here is my grandfather's axe. My dad put on a new head and I replaced the handle." Restoration is o...

I don't suppose that any of you lucky owners would like to share your good fortune and make a little easy cash by scanning and reproducing the originals of these catalogs? As you may know, the wonderful Danny sold me an original of a stained glass catalog from 1909 that he bought from the Glawson es...

The very best intro credits I've ever seen are in Catch Me If You Can with Tom Hanks. If I could do that kind of work I'd be happy forever - at least I ought to be.

I'm probably missing something here, but I would have thought that you could use glass instead of tiles. It will expand and contract with the temperature but it won't break if you give it the space it needs to change size. The space is very small - less than a 32" of an inch. You could blast yo...

Drum roll, maestro, please. http://www.AngelGilding.com has the great pleasure of announcing a new video entitled "Creating a Mirror on Glass: Silver & Gold" available on our newly redesigned website that come to you complete with a search capability, several new products and completel...

Well, I should think so. Congratulations!!!! Couldn't have gone to a nicer guy or a better teacher.

Well, I should think so. Congratulations!!!! Couldn't have gone to a nicer guy or a better teacher.

Hey Rod - your post on the museum show was a while back - have you received any replies yet? It sure would be one good way to build a market for glass signs. How are people going to order them if they don't know what effects and techniques are possible? Everybody is so sure its a "lost art"...

Ron,

I tried alcohol and it didn't make any difference to the copper at all. I'd love to know if this is a technique used on gold leaf - does it dissolve the size?

Thanks for the explanation, Mike, very interesting. Do you think any tempra paint would work or is there one kind/brand that is better for this than another? It sure is a neat trick.

Thanks for the info, Russ. I'm very sorry your piece went bad. It's a real bummer but at least we know now that the hardener is the problem. When I first noticed this problem on my glass samples last September, I did up some test pieces and they have been sitting with their backs to the sun since th...

Russ, I don't think the copper tarnished because we didn't use a chamois to remove the crud. I'm begining to think that it tarnishes because of adding One Shot hardener to the paint. Larry and I have both had problems with the copper tarnishing after it's been "leathered" as they say. Do y...

I forgot, Kelly. You're right about the wax of course. Not a good idea.

Well, I love experiments. I tried deep blasting (1/32"??) on a small bevel and filling the areas with Ross No Wrinkle Rubber Cement and then pulling the mask after a minute or two. The mask pulled off the extra rubber cement and left nice clean lines. I copper mirrored the piece. The copper sta...

Kelly, Mike, the chemist, says that oven cleaner probably won't work since it is alkaline so it won't dissolve the metal. If you have some nitric acid, you could try leaving that sit on the glass for a few hours. Of course, clean off all the oven cleaner first and scrub the glass well. Then you only...

Well, of course, I didn't look up everything before I posted. The answer is yes, this reprint of the above section (Chapter 13) of the Manual does contain Doroth Maddy's article on silver staining - go to http://www.cafepress.com/sgaa.57292061

Doug Bernhardt prompted me to find out about the above Manual. I am thrilled to tell you that it is being reprinted in sections. Go to http://www.cafepress.com/sgaa for more info.

Dave and Pat - Maybe you already know this, but there is a chapter on making and using Silver Stains in the SGAA (Stained Glass Association of America) Reference and Technical Manual, 1992, ISBN 0-9619640-1-4 by Dorothy Maddy. I can send you a copy of it if you want. The book is out-of-print. Silver...

Roderick, Your post reminded me that we have developed a simple way to deal with mirror waste. As you know, heavy metals should never go into the public sewer system. So what Mike (our resident chemist) says you can do is collect all your mirror waste in empty distilled water or milk gallon jugs. Ad...

I'm going too, too, too!