A few glass / gold questions

Felix Marcano · Post by **Felix Marcano** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 6:43 am

Hi guys. I'm really, REALLY interested in learning to play with glass & have been doing quite a bit of research. Please bear with me because I' ve never actually seen the jobs I'm about to mention (just on magazines). Plus you don't ever see this stuff down here...

1. David Smith's Bull & Brush panel- how do I make the "Bull & brush" text look rounded? Is it blasted deeper than the rest of the panel?

2. Also David Smith's: Are the centers of the text in the "Camelot" piece damar embossed? How are the swirlies on the very center of the "C" accomplished?

3. Can I chip a piece, paint it with transparent ink & then gild? If so, would this be better accomplished by silvering or can I use leaf? If the latter, which leaf? White gold?

4. Can I screenprint varnish for matte centers (so the edges look sharp)?

5. Doug Bernhardt's 98 Conclave & The Black Thorn CafÃ© pieces: The silver area (top) of the letters- How is this accomplished? How are they etched & gilded?

6. On AMAL 3-1, the "Spring Tonic" piece: What's the glittery stuff surrounding the MOP?

7. Also on AMAL 3-1, page 20. James Mitchell's "Tracks to Jack's" piece shows a trim that looks like leaded glass. Is this the case? If not, what is it?

Thank you all for your time!

Larry White · Post by **Larry White** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 10:15 am

In response to your question #3, I have used the technique of airbrushing a transparent glaze (transparent screen ink in varnish) over glue chipped areas, then water gilding it, as was done on the green fade in the letter centers of "Neptune". After the glaze is dry, it was water gilded with 12K gold. It could be gilded with any karat gold. Solution gilding would not be practical. The photo isn't the greatest, but in person it looks quite lovely. It's best to have the glaze strong in color so you can achieve the desired tone with the minimum amount of glaze. Too much glaze will fill in the crevasses of the glue chip and you will lose the fine details. This effect can also be done over textured acid etching. You might want to try it out on a sample piece prior to the execution of the real thing.

I've also used bronze powder over glue chipping as is the border portion of this sign.

Post by **Mike Jackson** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 10:36 pm

Hi Felix,
Wow! Lots of questions in one post! While not absolutely necessary, you might consider asking some in individual posts so it would be easier to keep all the answers straight and be easier for people to tackle.

Good luck,
Mike Jackson / site co-host

Felix Marcano · Post by **Felix Marcano** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 5:52 am

Thanks guys. Beautiful pieces, Larry. I know what you mean by not the greatest photos. Before I had ever seen a chipped panel in real life my thoughts on the matter were a mere "cool". I went to Rick Dolphens' meet & John Parker Sr. pulled out this little 8" x 10" or so panel it really blew my mind! Same thing happend a couple months ago when I went to Dave Correll's shop & saw his "Depot" piece. I can't wait to get the show on the road!

Thanks again!

DAVE SMITH · Post by **DAVE SMITH** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 2:53 pm

Hi Felix.
The centers on the Camelot glass are Damar embossed . The swirling design was made using a fork and the occasional use of a brush handle.There are other tools you can use to get all-sorts of effects.
On the Bull and Brush glass the letters were deep blasted . They are blasted very deep, nearly through to the other side. Try and avoid going this deep you can get the same effect at a more shallow depth of blasting plus it's some times harder to gild into the deeper sections of the blasting. I then applied 3 coats of 1 shot's Sign Restoring clear ,let it all dry then water gilded the letters in 23crt gold. Finally I finished with one more coat of varnish to stop any bleed through of the final coat of metallic 1 shot gold.
I like to use the Sign restoring clear because when I come to scraping the varnish off it removes easily without chipping into the gilded areas of the letters. Some of the other varnishes tend to be more brittle when it comes to scraping plus it leaves a more richer gold to the letters because of it's slightly yellow colour . There are other ways but this way works well for me. Hope this helps you Felix

John Studden is your man for screened letter centres ,he as some nice little tips on this technique.

Dave

Felix Marcano · Post by **Felix Marcano** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 3:13 pm

Thanks David. Yes. I'll be a at John's seminar next week. Shh. Don't tell him... just kidding!

Thanks again!

Doug Bernhardt · Post by **Doug Bernhardt** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 7:47 pm

Hi Felix .... am honoured you requested info on a couple of pieces of mine. What you are seeing is "tinsel" Saw this at Glawson and Evans the first time out there and I also was fascinated by it. In the "spring Tonic" cover I did for David and Doc there was a glaze of ruby schellac first.....pearl and a sprinkling of tinsel. Silver behind the pearl, gold in the panels. The Black Thorn Cafe piece was done with frog juice as a binder and this is the process I have used ever since. Rick also used this as the "varnish" as it dosen't yellow so radically. The Conclave 13th was done with varnish as well as the Spring Tonic and both look much darker than when first done. It goes without saying that the bottoms of both (best I recall) were damar and water gilded.

Felix Marcano · Post by **Felix Marcano** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:05 am

Thanks Doug. You guys mention items I have never heard of! I can see that I've only seen the tip of the iceberg!

Thank you.

Looking forward to Seeing the real deal at John's on Thursday!!

Thanks again, Felix