Painting Wine Glasses - For the First Time

Glass Painting - Shhhh  Its a Christmas Surprise

What is a Jewish girl from the Bronx ( New York City ) doing planning a Christmas - Holiday party for 100 people in Florida?

It all started early in 2013 when my friends Linda and Mary asked me to help with the planning of the annual holiday party for our retirement village. "I don't know anything about Christmas parties", I said. Apparently, experience isn't that important. So here we are, a brand new planning team, finding a caterer, a band, planning a menu and decorations, etc. The caterer had a great idea - buy dollar store wine glasses and paint them. Put little battery tea lights in them and dim the lights for an elegant tabletop decoration on top of the caterer's tablecloth and runner. After the party each guest will take home the painted wine glass as a favor.

We decided to paint a snowman - easy enough for our first attempt at glass painting yet it fits the holiday theme.

Materials needed: dollar store wine glasses, glass paint ( Folk Art Enamel was used), alcohol to clean glasses, brushes and sponges, clear contact paper to make stencils, sponges and q tips for small details, oven for curing painted glasses

Here are the step by step directions and photos. What do you think? I will post pictures of the tables after the big event in December.

1. Clean glasses with a little alcohol on a tissue. Fold a small piece of paper in half and draw a basic snowman shape. We decided to use a two part body because it fit better on the glass. The paint can not be close to the rim where  you put your mouth.

Which size stencil to use?

   2. The stencils are cut out of clear contact paper and the backing is removed.

The snowman shapes are traced onto clear contact paper and then cut out.
# 3. The stencils are carefully placed on wine glass. The top of the painted area has to be at least 3/4 inch below the rim. Although the glasses are safe to drink from, your lips should not touch any painted area. Make sure all edges of the stencil are sticking to the glass.
Proper placement of the stencil is important
#4. Using the special glass paint, paint inside the stencil. A small soft sponge was used. Remove the stencil when the paint is dry. It takes about 5 - 10 minutes to dry.
The body of the snowman is painted and the stencil is removed when dry.
#5. Now it is time to add the details. Here a hat is painted. It was easier to paint a batch at a time and one color at a time. It all depends on how many you are painting. Have fun.  
Now add the details to your snowman
#6. Here is the completed snowman wine glass.
Isn't he cute?
#7. Now it is time to cure the painted glasses. Put them in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 350 degrees. When the oven reaches the set temperature set the timer for 30 minutes. When the timer rings, turn off the oven. Let the glasses sit inside the oven for a few hours until the oven is totally cool again. I baked mine after dinner and the next morning I removed them from the oven. Let me know how yours turn out.