How-To: Painted Glass Transom Window

With large upcoming renovation expenses, and the need to get our home wind and water-tight, I wanted to add an affordable special touch to our front door. Here's all the materials you'll need to create your own painted glass artwork.

Here’s the final look!
​

 
You’ll need: (Click the item for a link to where I bought them)

Self Adhesive Lead Strip – £10-25

• I chose a 50m real 4.5mm wide “natural coloured” lead strip. If you know you’re only doing one small project, the strips come in 5, 10 and 20m lengths as well.

Utility Knife (a sharp knife to cut lead strip)

Soldering Iron – £8-15

Lead-Free Solder - £8

Soldering Flux - £5-10

Paint Brush – a couple quid

• I've not linked this item because my  brush shed hairs, and I would not recommend.

PEBEO Vitrail Glass Paint - £4.25 each

• I chose PEBEO’s Vitrail paints because they do not need heat to cure (I can’t put a double glazed sealed window in the oven.) This paint creates a beautiful finish, but it is not incredibly durable. I would not recommend this for high traffic areas that may get knocked. It is perfect for fan lights, or pieces that will be hung up high.
• My chosen colours: Chartreuse, Cobalt and Lemon

​

.I used this Youtube video to make my transom window.  Though I used a different technique for painting my glass. I used this painting technique. 

​
1. Design 
Start by choosing a design! I used Instagram to find inspiration for my design, and then drew out a rough plan. You can also find inspiration on your favourite website, or Architecture in your city!

2. Apply Lead Stripping
Clean your glass and start by applying your lead stripping.

If you are trying to get a straight line, I would recommend placing a ruler alongside the lead strip while applying it to the glass.

The lead strip appears not to be very sticky, until it is rubbed thoroughly with the applicator provided.


3. Soldering
Once your lead is applied to the glass, apply a thin layer of flux to each of the joins. Make sure your soldering iron has reached full temperature before soldering.

Heat up a small amount of lead free solder and quickly apply across the join. The lead has a lower melting point than the lead-free solder, so be careful not to hold the soldering iron on the lead for too long. My soldering iron almost hovers above the lead, only touching the solder itself. This is the trickiest part of the job, and I would recommend practicing on a test piece before soldering your glass painting project.

4. Painting
Clean the glass one last time before painting.

I used small artists paint brushes, and chose to use Vitrail paint in lemon, cobalt blue and chartreuse.

Here’s a colour sample card.

​I use the “flooding” technique, to get a smooth finish without any paintbrush lines. With this technique, you apply a thin layer of paint all over the area you want to paint, and then “flood” the area with paint.
​
When using the flooding technique, allow for far more drying time than the 8-10 hours the bottle describes. Make sure the area you are painting in is dust-free, and for best results, I would recommend waiting two days before installing your piece.
 

That’s all there is to it!

I hope you enjoy getting creative and making beautiful pieces of glass artwork for your own home!

​DM us your finished work @whathavewedunoon!
​