glass painting
Glass painting is the original decorative technique for windows. Painting involves a good deal of steps. The earliest paint, a dark brown vitreous enamel, was used for everything from dark lines to the subtle shading of hands and faces. This iron oxide based paint was employed not only to decorate glass, but it served to control amounts of light passage through any given window. With skill and artistry, the use of this single glass paint serves to bring out a whole host of colors. The paint layers are applied with a wide variety of brush choices, then, depending on the effects sought, may be be worked with other tools, some made of bone or horn. The list of techniques seems endless. The painted panes must be fired in a kiln at 1250 degrees Fahrenheit to fuse the enamel to the glass
