On one of my glass fusing groups on Facebook, someone mentioned you could use an oil based Sharpie paint pen on fused glass. I was surprised to hear that so I went to the store and picked up a package. Managed to hit a 50% off coupon at Michael's so that helped....these pens are not cheap! I bought a white and a black one to start and made a flower pendant (in the style of Margot Clark and her MUD) using sgraffito techniques. I used black glass and the white paint pen. I was pretty happy with how it came out for a first try. I had a problem with this pendant...it broke in the MWK, but I managed to fuse it back together and otherwise the paint did well in the kiln. You can see the faint crack in the upper third.
Second try with this paint. Fused beautifully! I am pretty sure it will not scratch off!
My lion. The lines seemed to get finer on firing. I am trying to remember to include a quarter with my photos so you can judge size...this one is very small. Less than an inch wide.
On these two and the lion, I rubbed some gold mica powder into the ink before firing. They got a golden hue from doing so, which added to the plain white. Looks better in person, of course. :)
Then I tried this one, after I bought a full set of five colored pens. Blue water on the back piece of black glass, with green "grass" coming up from the bottom. Did a little sgraffito on the background and the betta...his rear front fin was on the back side of the clear piece of glass, while the main part of him was painted on the top, for depth. I was so proud! It looked pretty good for a first attempt. (I fully credit Mark Hufford from my FB group for the inspiration to even try this stuff...he's so talented!)
And then, I fired it..
Sorry, no pix of how it looked immediately after I fired it. I was THAT disappointed!
ALL the paint was white. You can see the remnants of the blue and green paint inside the glass. And there was a huge black burnt bubble inside under the fish. I may not have let it dry long enough, I'm not sure. The most disappointing part is that apparently you lose ALL the color on firing these paint pens to full fuse. So, being a cheapskate, and not wanting to waste the glass, I decided to paint another fish over top to try and cover it. I should have ground the edges and fired it again beforehand but I didn't because I was worried about the bubble inside...thought it might pop in the MWK....so this one will be mine. (I changed the betta's color to blue btw, because it blended into the red background too much otherwise. So this paint is pretty thick...Tried red on top of the fused white paint first before settling on blue..)
The one below is not fired; I baked it in the oven instead. I went online and read that you can use these oil based paint Sharpies on the mugs they are always pinning on Pinterest and bake them in the oven to make them "permanent"...So I decided to go that route instead of fusing in the kiln. I do not think they are THAT permanent, however. But since I fused the betta the first time, maybe this will be less apt to scratch. If I do get a scratch, I can always repaint it, lol. I TRIED to hide the burnt spot...it almost looks like a shadow from the fishie in the photo...:Ok, no, it doesn't. .D You can see how the paint changed from the photo above, though. It's less shiny and colorful, although it didn't lose much detail. I baked it for thirty minutes at 350F. More about that below.
Wanted to show the difference between the look of this one and the etched on I made using my Dremel. It isn't as permanent, but much safer to create!
Just wanted to show how the real etched one does not show up the same on a light background! (Two photos above shows the painted one on the same background.) And yet....this is far more delicate and beautiful, in my opinion! :) I just hesitate to do it without proper protection for both me and my animals, and I can't find room for all that!
Here's my tiger. I think my animals are getting better, at least! :) Still using sgraffito to make these. The glass on this is actually transparent, although very dark. The only colors I used were pink, yellow and white...the darker areas in the white are where Super Copper mica powder is rubbed into the paint. Oh, and these are both about 8 x 10".
One of the pins I saw about these pens said to use 450F as the temperature to bake them at, and to bake them for 45 minutes. Apparently it sort of melted the paint and the mica powder I applied melted into it and turned it golden! OR the oven was too hot, since they seemed to darken a bit...not sure. The higher temperatures muted the colors quite a bit, too. The betta above, I baked at 350F for the thirty minutes recommended elsewhere, just in case! The colors on that one did mute a bit but not as much as the higher temperature did. But at least it's still got its original color and isn't white!
The tiger had Super Copper powder rubbed into it which also melted into the paint. You can sure see the color difference in the eyes and nose. These paint markers still scratch off after baking, by the way...so, not so permanent...I guess for fused glass, I have to find real glass paint for fusing. If I want white paint, I CAN use the Sharpie paint pens, though. :)
Someone had recommended Pebeo pens made for ceramics that is largely indelible after baking in a regular oven but I haven't found them locally yet. And reviews were mixed as to whether they held up well and it was stated that they are pricey. I would order the paints I've read about for fusing but unless I can get it locally I can't really allow myself to purchase it. I would have too much explaining to do about why I need ANOTHER kind of craft, considering my craft room is filled to bursting as it is! I did cheap out and buy some sample enamels for glass from Folk Art and some Testors, so stay tuned! I don't know how I'll do with a brush though...the pens seem so much easier!
Thanks for looking - make sure to stop by my Pinterest page to see a LOT more of my creations, and please click "like" on my Facebook page, Karmic Confetti!
