Alrighty, I am finally trying to get my stuff together and post some of my projects I've been working on.
This project was for a birthday present for some of our friends. They love Legend of Zelda and have a very geeky/gamer decorated home. So I decided to make them a painted glass brick light.
I started with the Krafty Block that you can get at Hobby Lobby.
These blocks come pre-drilled with holes. You can get glass bricks at any home improvement store as well but these do not come pre-drilled. At the same section of Hobby Lobby you can also find a single bulb light.
I also bought a stencil making sheet. (Which is essentially a thick piece of plastic.) I printed out the triforce symbol I had decided to do. Traced the design onto the stencil sheet with a thin line permanent marker. Then cut it out using an Exacto knife.
I then painted the front blue, using painters tape to ensure the edges were clean and a makeup sponge to achieve the matte finish. Once it was dry I placed the stencil on the glass and using the exacto knife scratched out the blue paint. I then painted the gold paint, once again using the makeup sponge, through the stencil. While I let that dry I painted the green around the sides with a paint brush. This achieves a highly lacquered appearance to the paint. After everything was dry I went over the blue with a paint brush and the blue paint adding layers and cleaning up edges.
Finally, I superglued the bottom of the light bulb to the plastic plug that comes with the glass block. This ensures that you can take the light out when you need to put a new bulb in the light. This softer plastic plug fits snugly in while still allowing the cord to come out the side.
Here's the end result.
Some tips:
- Make sure you let the enamel cure before attempting to do anything more to the paint, such as put painters tape on it. (I tried to add a blue stripe to the side initially...lets say it didn't work out.)
- Make sure that you know where the hole is in your block at all times, else you end up with a beautiful logo that's upside down or turned the wrong way when you set your block down.
- The good news is that wet paint is easy to remove with soap and water. Dry paint is easily removable with a straight edge razor. (As long as it hasn't cured.)
- Clean all surfaces with rubbing alcohol so that the enamel will bond with the glass better.
- The craft blocks (along with all the the other glass crafts) routinely go on sale for 50% off at Hobby Lobby. Buy your blocks then.
- You can use the mini Christmas lights instead of the single bulb light. However, make sure you get the ones that are made to be in tight spaces. Otherwise the heat might become too great and melt the lights and then you might have a house fire.
- Some enamels can be heat set. Others just require time in order to cure. Refer to your bottle which it is and on how to do this.
