Glass-on-Glass Screen Printing

I spotted this small boy in the trees and undergrowth along a rural road near the coast in southwestern Haiti. He appeared to be alone, and may have been picking bananas or other wild-growing fruits to eat. Image: Four shades of green and three shades of orange powdered glass pulled through six silkscreensFrame: Many thin strips cut from green streaky sheet glass standing on edge, bordered by strips and squares of black sheet glass, all kiln-fused onto white sheet glass…

Women and children carry laundry to the river. Their burdens are portrayed as American flags to represent the treatment of Haitian people by more powerful nations over more than five centuries. Image: black, green, and two shades of gray applied with four silkscreens and kiln-fired. Red and blue glass powders added by hand and fired. Background: white sheet glass

A village elder carrying her supplies for weaving hats, baskets, and other items to sell. Image: White powdered glass silk-screened onto black sheet glass and lightly kiln-fired. Frame: fused mosaic of tiny squares of sheet glass, standing on edge and fused onto the sheet glass background. Frame is completed first, then the image is screened onto the background and very lightly fired. This was my first photo-based glass-on-glass screen print. I had taken a class on screen printing with powdered…

Women and girls draw water from a hand-pumped well in Les Anglais, Haiti. When wells aren’t available, or are broken from continual use, people walk for miles to collect water from polluted rivers for drinking, bathing, cooking, and washing, resulting in many dire illnesses. Children are often the ones to make the long trips for water, keeping them from full attendance at school. Walking around the town, we would find every well in use, with people waiting in line. It…

A young fisherman in front of his home repairing a net. He lives in the “beach village” near Les Anglais, Haiti. People who can’t afford to own or rent property build huts and shanties on the beach that are always at risk from storms. Image: Glass-on-Glass screen print using four silkscreens for the four shades of grayFrame: fused sheet glass

Small berries remain on winter bushes along a street near the State Capitol building in Santa Fe. The red glass bits used for the berries were tack-fused on after the black and gray powders were fired, so they would maintain their shape and sparkle. The white glass background is slightly translucent, so an LED “candle” lit behind it makes the piece glow. Gray and black glass powders were screened onto white sheet glass, black glass powder was screened onto a…

Late-afternoon shadows along Paseo de Peralta in winter. I blended a mix of powdered glass colors to approximate the color of the adobe surface.

The photo for this piece was taken across a small lake on Newfoundland. Most of the image is powdered glass, applied with silkscreens, and fully fused onto the glass background. The leaves on the trees are small, sparkling chunks of glass that were added by hand later, and fired just enough to become slightly rounded and stick to the piece.

Early morning at the end of a trail in Arches National Park

Distant bluffs in Arches National Park, photographed from the back seat of a moving motorcycle.

The photo behind this glass-on-glass screen print was taken on a winder night in Ashland, Oregon. It is the shadow of bare branches on a sidewalk under a street light. Instead of gray powders for the lighter shadows, I used red, yellow, and orange powdered glass.

Richard Glenn, a friend and fellow Pacific Northwest Glass Guild member, took the photo behind this piece in Cuba. As soon as I saw it, I knew it had to become a screen print, and we agreed that I would use his photo to make glass prints and the first one would be his. Someday, I hope to make a version with bright colors for the flowers and leaves of the plants on the balconies. This print required four silkscreens…

This is the main road through a village that our teams always looked forward to seeing as we drove from Port Au Prince to Les Anglais, on the southwest arm of Haiti. I don’t think we ever drove through here when the road wasn’t crowded with people and products. For this large piece, the blacks and grays, blue sky, tan dirt road, green palm leaves, and rusty tin roof were each printed with a different screen. To make sure I…

Demonstration of pulling powder across a silkscreen as part of making a glass-on-glass print.

This short video shows how fast to slide the emulsion trough. Be sure you have your speakers on to hear the sound that tells you your speed and pressure are good.