Painting on glass with black pigment has been used since the 7th century. Many people assume that the process involves nothing more than taking a brush and a can of paint and painting on top of a piece of glass. While this certainly will work temporarily, the paint will peel and flake and render the painted piece useless very quickly, especially if exposed to the elements. A
true piece of painted glass that will last down though the ages undergoes a much different process.
The paint or pigment for glass work is really not a "paint" as we think of paint today. It is an oxide in powder form which when mixed with water, painted on, and fired in a kiln at temperatures up to 1400 degrees F., fuses with the glass itself to become part of the basic material. Since different colors and oxides fire at different temperatures, as many as 6 different firings might be necessary to complete the piece. The brushing and texturing treatments to create the detail required as well as the kiln firing techniques render Painted Stained Glass a very challenging and time consuming art form for the artist. Once finished the fused design is as permanent as the glass itself and can withstand most any environment.