Painted Glassware Hydrangea Trio

Preparation:

1.  All glassware should be cleaned well in warm, soapy water.  Rinse well and allow to dry.  Next, moisten a paper towel or cloth with rubbing alcohol and wipe the surface to ensure it is thoroughly cleaned.

1.  Use painter’s tape to mask any desired shapes such as horizontal or vertical bands, squares, or triangles.  Be sure to press tape edges securely to the glass surface.
2. Tap dense foam sponge into desired color of paint and then lightly dab the paint within the taped areas.  Allow to dry and if desired, reapply for an opaque coverage.  Carefully remove tape.  (TIP:  if paint has dried to both the tape and the glassware, carefully score the tape line using a craft knife before pulling the tape away.)

1. Paint the hydrangea shapes with an irregular shaped circle using Violet Pansy to the bottom of the circle, Aqua to the top of the circle and the middle is filled in with True Blue.
2. White the paints are still wet, stroke a small flat brush loaded with Wicker White over the wet paint.  The petal strokes are painted in the shape of a plus sign.  Reload the brush with Wicker White often as the wet paint is picked up.  Add a few petal strokes outside the irregular shaped circle to create a loose painterly style rather than a tight circle shape.
3. Dot the centers with Yellow Light.

1. Paint the leaf shapes with Evergreen and allow to dry.
2. Shade the base of each leaf with Evergreen plus Burnt Umber.  Paint Burnt Umber as a center vein.
3. Highlight each leaf with Evergreen plus Wicker White. 
4. Accent each leaf with touches of Aqua.

1. Allow the painted designs to dry for 24 hours.  Once dry, the paint should be baked-to-cure onto the glassware.
2. Place painted glassware in a cool oven.  NOTE:  Do NOT preheat the oven.  Set the oven temperature to 350 degrees and set a timer to 30 minutes.
3. Once baked for 30 minutes, turn the oven off, however, DO NOT open the oven door.  Allow the baked glassware to sit in the oven until both the oven and glassware are completely cool.  NOTE:  The painted glassware should both heat up and cool down with the oven itself.
4. Once properly heat set and cooled completely, remove the painted glassware and allow to rest 72 hours prior to washing.  If baked-to-cure properly, painted glassware is top shelf dishwasher safe.  However, a good rule of thumb to live by is …. If hand made … hand wash!