Welcome to my blog, featuring various pieces from my collection of Oz books, artwork and memorabilia!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Window Progress

The Oz window is starting to take shape. Here you can see the three figures of Glinda, Ozma and Dorothy coming together against the sky. Once the window is completed and dark lead lines are in place, the colors will be more vibrant. I've started painting faces and details on various pieces, but there's still quite a way to go!

Painting on glass is very much like china painting. The paints are actually powdered minerals which get mixed with water and gum arabic, and are fired onto the glass in a kiln. Each layer of color is fired separately, so a painted piece can have quite a few trips through the kiln before it is done. The faces seen here have had two firings, and will still have a couple more. In glass painting, you generally start with the detail work and then add layers of color - which is, in a general way, the opposite of regular painting.

8 comments:

Chandra said...

Oooo, this is really impressive and lovely! I can't wait to see the final product!!!

James C. Wallace II said...

Are the paintings being done a reverse glass painting techniques, or straight up frontal painting techniques?
I know the reverse techniques give a much more unique look, but are way harder to do.

Freddy Fogarty said...

wow !!! I am so excited to watch as this project progresses :)

Bill Campbell said...

Thanks, this is certainly a fun project for me to work on and I'm glad to finally be doing it.

Regarding painting on front or reverse of the glass, for window work of this sort there isn't much difference in difficulty - by the time I'm done, various pieces will be painted and fired on both the front and the back. There are other techniques that are different - for example, reverse painted lamp shades, or some non-fired techniques of glass painting that I'm not as familiar with. These may have a different range of difficulty.

LG said...

I apologize if I am asking a silly question but first let me say that this is lovely and I, also, can not wait to see the piece in it's final stages!

Who is Ozma?

Bill Campbell said...

That's not a silly question, it's actually very common!

Many fans of The Wizard of Oz are unaware that there are 40 books, published between 1900 and 1963 that constitute the "official" Oz series. Many more titles have been written since then, both by fans and established authors. Consequently, there's a wide array of Oz characters out there!

Ozma is the true ruler of Oz, and is introduced in the second Oz book, The Marvelous Land of Oz. The original book was published in 1904, but Marvel Comics is just publishing the final segment of this story in their graphic novel adaptation, written by Oz author /artist Eric Shanower and drawn by Skotty Young. The adaptation of The Wizard of Oz by this same pair for Marvel was an award winning hit, and there are plans to continue on to the third Oz title, Ozma of Oz.

LG said...

Thank you! I guess I have to catch up on my Oz reading :D

I saw a movie the other day, The Tin Man, it was based off the Oz serious I think. It was kind of weird, but if you haven't seen it, maybe you'd be interested?

P.S. I just noticed that Dorothy has a very mischievous look on her face. Very cool, is there a reason?

Bill Campbell said...

Tin Man does have a following among Oz fans - it's an example of the newer, darker style of Oz story. As far as Dorothy's expression goes, it's based on the original sketch by John R. Neill. In the books, Dorothy does have an independent personality, and a mischievous look wouldn't be out of place!