Softened highlights
As glass painters, we focus on painting i.e. getting our paint onto the glass.
For instance those lovely trace-lines and gorgeous shadows:
But here's a wonderful quote for you:
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away"
It's by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who also wrote The Little Prince:
" ... nothing left to take away".
That's why we call our foundation course Illuminate.
Because ... well, the clue is in the name. Taking away - highlighting - is how you create stained glass which lifts your viewers' hearts:
You put paint on, which darkens your glass
And then you take it off, you highlight it, which illuminates your glass and lets the light shine through
And each week inside Illuminate you'll practise the most amazing highlights.
Each week: highlights really are that important.
And here now is an excerpt from a documentary we made in 2012, The Master & The Beast. We mention the year to explain why the film is sometimes grainy. Film quality has improved a lot since then.
Now watch how much the glass painter achieves with just a finger.
Even a beast becomes beautiful:
We call this process "softening the highlights":
You apply paint with your brushes
You make highlights - that is, remove paint - with a stick
You shade the highlights with a finger, which we call “softening”.
And then you fire.