Bonnie Coordinates her Foyer with Gallery Glass

I got this email recently from Bonnie, our reader in Louisiana. She says, "My front door is already leaded glass in the mission style. I wish to paint some of the sections with colors that compliment my foyer. Are there any detailed instructions on how to paint vertically with Gallery Glass,spread evenly and remove air bubbles on a vertical surface?" I referred her to some of our posts on painting vertically and gave her some additional tips and techniques. ("Painting Windows by Vertical Method" under Window Makeovers category to the right of home page.) 

A few days later, I got this response, "You can see that the gold is just what I wanted. The Autumn Gallery Glass on the left of the panel was mixed with clear 1/2 and 1/2 and is much too orange. I painted Berry Red on the panel on the right. It is more the color--but much too pink. The light fixture that I'm trying to match is maroon--a dark burgundy."
I told her the bad news--there's no way to make a color of Gallery Glass darker. You can lighten it with Crystal Clear and you can make it into a pastel by mixing with Snow White, but you can't make it darker unless you can add pure colorants that are used to create the color. Since my office is next door to the Research Lab, I was able to obtain a variety of red dyes, some black, etc. --and sent them to her. There was a while that I didn't hear from her and thought maybe the project had failed and she had given up,

Yesterday, I got this email with pictures which I am eager to share with you."Well, Carol, you probably thought I forgot about you but here I am again. If you've noticed an upswing in the amount of Gallery Glass you are selling at Hobby Lobby in Baton Rouge IT'S BECAUSE OF ME!  Hobby Lobby must be wondering what it takes to keep Berry Red on the shelf!! I tried every combination of Berry Red and the colorants you sent. My talents are very limited in this area. Anyway every mixture was a failure. Out of frustration I put Berry Red on my door (3 coats) and every coat looked better and better. They say "less is more". In this case MORE was more!, 3 coats did the trick and I LOVE IT. Here are some pics to show the finished project. Now I am thinking of what project to take on next --considering I have all of this "extra" Gallery Glass paint!"

Ahhh, how satisying it is --when you finally hit the "sweet spot" in a project. I apologized for not telling her to put on multiple coats in the first place. That is the only way to darken a color, other than thicker application. However, when applying the paint vertically, you really can't vary the depth of application like you can when you're working horizontally. So the only way to thicken the color is to let it dry--one layer at a time and re-apply until you get the color you are looking for. As you can see, it took some time for Bonnie to get it just right, but it was well worth the effort. Her door is gorgeous and only she and her husband will know that the borders weren't "born" that way. Good job, Bonnie! Thank you for sharing your project. We can all learn from your experimentation and perseverance.

 

Color or Clear--Gallery Glass Windows - which will it be?

Let's talk about designing your window makeover. I have a preference and you have probably noted it from previous posts. I prefer large areas of clear texture in my window makeovers. Not because I don't LIKE color, but for several reasons which I will share. I think Crystal Clear works best as a background color.

There is a covenant in many neighborhoods (mine included) that doesn't allow any color of window covering to be visible from the outside of the house, except white. So for that reason, all my street-side Gallery Glass windows have to be made up of CLEAR textures. 
So, you can see why I became programmed to counsel people who were contemplating window makeovers to be alert to the fickle preferences of their home owner association. They normally have the best interests of the neighborhood in mind and try to prevent individual tastes from infringing on the rights of peripheral neighbors--which I agree is an important aspect. But not all windows are on the front of the house. And seriously--what we put on the back of our home--can be a little more trendy, right?
The design that we did for a nursery (above) is a good example of "Clear with Color Accents". It is tasteful, but blends beautifully with the primary colors on the walls and furnishings.
Before you begin your window makeover project, ask yourself--what will it look like at night? That's the only time that anyone on the street will REALLY see it. You don't want to send the wrong message. Clear textures can be used without question, but colors should be used sparingly--in my opinion.

Group Fun at Plaid

Once in a while we stop the music and just dance! Yes, my Sunday School Class was determined to have a tour of the "home of Gallery Glass", which to the lay person is Plaid Enterprises. We met at the church and carpooled down to the corporate offices in Norcross. People are sometimes disappointed because they think that Plaid will be like one big Michael's store with product hanging everywhere and people making craft projects on every available flat surface, but unfortunately, it's not "Craft Heaven". Plaid looks very much like a normal corporate office with cubes and filing cabinets, although there are a few whimsical areas that the class really enjoyed seeing. In the picture above, we are in the customer conference room where there really are bottles of product hanging from gondolas (the pegboard racks). Everyone enjoyed seeing all the Plaid products in one room. But there was only 1 of each item and not a cash register in sight, so nobody could buy anything. Bummer.

Then we took a look at the Creative Design Area. This is usually the only place at Plaid where actual crafting occurs. It has shelves and shelves of blank surfaces and racks and racks of every color of paint--in every category,-- getting closer to each person's dream job. In the afternoon we went on a plant tour and saw how Gallery Glass is made. We saw the vats where the paint is mixed and the filling line where the liquid is squirted into the bottles on a narriw conveyor. As the bottle moves down the line, machines drop the tip, the cap, the label, and the shrink band. When all these parts are in place, the bottles are swept into a machine that bundles 6 bottles together. It's an amazing process. We enjoyed seeing all the warehouse racks --with acres and acres of brown boxes stacked all the way to the top of the 20' ceiling--amazing how they ever find anything. But it was July in Georgia--not a cool, comfortable place to be. Our admiration for the loyal Plaid employees mounted with every step.

Once the tour was over, we noticed that we had worked up quite an appetite. Luckily there is a local deli close to the church where we feasted and discussed plans for Summer Gallery Glass projects. All in all, it was a wonderful Saturday afternoon, even though it was a tad warm. Our hearts and hats to go off to the wonderful people at Plaid who work in less than ideal conditions to bring us "magic" in a bottle. Thanks, Plaid employees. Keep it up!