Shirsha

Art is entertainment. I have often failed to draw the line between the two. What would one call strictly as Art? What is pure Entertainment? Music is art and entertainment, same goes for Movies, Theatres, Art shows, Hobby classes, Dancing, Books, Fashion, hmm! I seem to have stumbled into some truth today, art is entertainment, entertainment is art!

When I dabble in art, I seem to entertain myself. A lonely boring afternoon can get colourful with art-y indulgences. You may call it entertainment! A movie, or perhaps a novel, or take to a hobby? Then watch what the lonely boring afternoon transcends itself into, an interesting well-spent afternoon, where your energies were directed into creating and learning, something new!

One such boring afternoon, I took to glass painting. Now, let me tell you, am no artist at all. I do occassionally get those stirrings that do to bring out paints and brushes and canvases and I put a stroke here and there. Folks around me come and gush and say ‘Hey, thats really good!’ but I have my own doubts. I suppose I love to indulge in paints more than I am actually good at it. But thats for quite another discussion.

For now I would like to introduce you to Glass painting, for those who haven’t yet tried their hands at it. The best part about Glass painting is its really really simple, but the end result is surprisingly glamourous! What I mean is, a wee bit of effort can produce a wonderful art piece that you might just be proud of. Drop a few paints here and there and watch how the silly glass piece tranforms into a delight. Yeah, its that simple!

So, here’s what you will require _ first up, a glass surface that you want to colour up. I had a dull cane coffee table lying around, and its glass top just beckoned to be done up! I tried out stuff on empty fish bowls, then there are the kitchen windows which needed brightening up. Alternately, you could buy a glass piece that you want to paint on. Most simple.

Secondly, you’d require paints, glass paints. Hop over to the nearest stationery shop, they all stock sets of Glass paints. You could buy a full set or just the colours you want. Additionally, you will need the outliner as well. But that actually depends on what you want to try out. For a first-timer I’d advise the black outliner, next time you could experiment without the liner.

Before we start the painting, decide on the design. Draw it to size on a sheet of paper. Internet is full of wonderful designs that you could try out, if you can’t think of one of your own. Again, for a first-timer I’d advise, pick a design from the ones available, instead of setting out on one of your own. This is only because you are not entirely aware of the complexities involved!

Place the paper on which you have traced the design out, behind the glass you want to paint on. If it shifts, then you need to clip it or tape it so that it would remain in place. Proceed to outline the design on the glass sheet, using the black outliner. This works like how mehendi is put. If you’re unfamilier with the mehendi thing, I’d say its a lot like squeezing toothpaste onto the tooth brush groggy eyed, early morning!

Done with outlining the design with the black outliner? Wait for it to dry, takes about 30 minutes or so. In the meantime, decide on your colours. Once dry, proceed to squeeze colours into a portion outlined and if its thick, spread it out over the portion using a brush. How much colour you squeeze into a outlined portion depends on how thick you want the colour to appear. A very thick coating makes it almost opaque. An experienced hand can also use this funda to give it an effect of shading!

Once done, leave it to dry for over an hour. Though it dries a lot faster than that, but just stay away from it for a while! On returning to it, turn it around, and now, look at your creation! How did it go? Do you see magic? Look, what I created over the dull cane coffee table glass top… (sorry abt the poor pic! I told you I wasn’t an artist!)

So there, try it and tell me how Glass painting works for you! Just one last pointer, the side to be displayed is on the other side of which you painted. Now go, spend that lazy afternoon creatively and show me what you get done!