Today I want to share some understanding of two big topics:

1. How you paint a better undercoat
2. How you treat your hake

I’ll even talk face-to-face with you over my light-box and show you what I mean: such is the joy of video (for those of you who have this technique-packed e-book).

The undercoat – why watery is bad

The undercoat is where most traditional stained glass painting starts. I don’t exaggerate: it’s the foundation for nearly all your work. Anyone who’s serious about the craft must master it: end of discussion. (But the inquisitive will find more here and here.)

A key feature of a successful undercoat is: it must be dry – not watery.

What does this mean?

I’ll show you in the video later on: I’ll explain why watery is bad and how to deal with it.

How you treat your brushes

If you treat your brushes badly, they won’t just die a long, long time before they should (which costs you money).

They’ll also serve you badly during life.

For sure, a master glass painter can work miracles with badly damaged brushes. But a less experienced glass painter needs all the help that’s going.

I don’t mean they need ‘expensive’ brushes. (I can get several thousand pounds of painting from a £3 tracing brush before it dies on me.)

I just mean you must treat your brushes with kindness and respect.

I mean: there are things you may do to your brushes.

And there are some things you just don’t do.

And my question to you is:

Is this a decent way to treat your hake?

Well?

What do you think?

And my next question is:

So how do you use your hake to solve the problem of a watery palette?

Yes: your palette gets too watery. It happens to us all. How then do you use your hake to put things right again?

You need to know the answer because this sometimes – ha! easily – happens when you’re mixing undercoating paint.

Your palette gets too watery.

A watery palette mostly means a watery undercoat. And a watery undercoat means danger. (I’ll gladly return to this topic another time. For now, let me just say a water undercoat is unreliable. It can’t be trusted. Which defeats its whole purpose.)

So you have to get the water off.

And the point is, there is a way to use your hake to do this.

New free demo

I’ve made a new free demo and I’ve sent it out to people who got our e-book on the key techniques of stained glass painting.

Nothing more to pay: it’s all included with this technique-packed guide to stained glass painting.

If you’d like to know more about the techniques of kiln-fired stained glass painting, our e-book is great. You also get immediate access to 30 online videos. Plus – like just now – I email you when we make a new video for you. You can get your copy of the e-book here.

So maybe your hake is tougher than you think …

Those of you I’ve taught in person: you’ve seen my hake – it’s as fit and lean as ever it was.

And I wouldn’t swap it for a new hake, not even if you offered me £500.

Truth is: a used, worn-in and well-looked after hake is worth far more than ever you paid for it.

Look after yours.

And remember: it won’t object to vigorous (loving) use like I show you in the video.

Get our guide to glass painting right here.

Best,