China Paints?
 

Soooo, does anyone use them in their beads? I have 41 vintage vials I bought 3 years ago (so they are even older now heehee!) thinking as a newbie I could, but never tried or saw any info on how to us them in beads.
Any help appreciated!!
(and if you want to buy them, let me know! ;) )

I 'inherited' a whole bunch of them a few years ago when I bought my kiln, which is a big ol' brick jobbie used for china painting.

While my experiments haven't been exhaustive (I've got more than 60 different colours), I've had mixed results with them, but they can be really interesting, especially when they won't cooperate and go all clumpy.. They work nicely, actually, but don't like to be etched. They tend to rub off if you etch beads that have been surface-coated. But definitely worthwhile and quite versatile if you find the right colours for the right style.

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...s/IMGP5954.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...0Stringer3.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...s/IMGP5115.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...s/IMGP4636.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...er%20Foil..jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...nd%20Burnt.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...own%20LtIv.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...casedClear.jpg

Oh, and some of mine are 20+, maybe 30+ years old. The pigment in some (particularly pinks and purples) has degraded in time, according to a china painting expert around these parts, but on glass as new work they're fine :D

Thank you Di!!!
I have a show this Sat I am prepping for but I know I will play with them after!

Good! Would love to see how you go with them :D It's a lot of mucking around trying different ones out, and I haven't done any for a couple of years now, but it's still good to know I've still got them to play with should I ever get around to it again :lol:

Most china paints mature at cone 018 to 016. This, as you know, is hotter than we fire glass; no more than 022 unless you want it to slump.. There are paints used for glass, which have more flux in them. You can also take powdered flux and add it to the paint. (Incidentally I painted china and glass lampshades for 23 yrs before finding Lampwork.)

Thanks for the insights!!!!!