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Some pretty neat glass bridges

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Some pretty neat glass bridges

Some pretty neat glass bridges

Glass has definitely made a comeback in both interior and exterior design. When we hear the term “glass” we think of window panes and doors, but glass can be used in amazing ways inside (and outside) of buildings. Here’s a look at some interesting glass applications.

Glass bridges for the brave and not-so-brave

A well-constructed bridge is an engineering marvel, and many creative and awe-inspiring bridge designs are in use around the world today. If you don’t typically think of glass as being a good material for bridges, you’re not thinking creatively enough! An all-glass suspension bridge opened last year in China. The Haohan Qiao (Brave Men’s Bridge) is a 900-foot span between two cliffs in the Shiniuzai National Geological Park in Hunan Province. The bridge is suspended 600 feet in the air. If you love the idea of walking on glass suspended 55 stories in the air, then you should consider planning a trip to China. A second glass bridge – this one 1,200 feet long and 1,300 feet in the air (120 stories high) – is under construction in the Zhangjiajie National Forest. It’s expected to open to tourists in 2016.

If being that high up is unnerving, consider visiting the Tower Bridge in London, instead. In 2014, the Tower Bridge unveiled twin glass walkways suspended 138 feet directly above the Tower Bridge and the River Thames. Each walkway is 36 feet long and 6 feet wide. The walkways provide an excellent view of the river, and the Tower Bridge, which opens on average 2.3 times per day.

If that’s still too far off the ground, the next time you’re at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC, check out the Automatic People Mover station in the main terminal. Inside the terminal, you’ll find two glass bridges that carry pedestrians over the People Mover trains. The bridges use more than 7,000 square feet of 1-5/16ths inch-thick glass that’s lit from below.

If you’re looking for inspiration for a glass paint project, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Mike Fleming, via FreeImages.com

Interior glass doors

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Interior glass doors

Interior glass doors

If you want to create a contemporary look for your home, consider the addition of interior glass doors in your home. Interior glass doors are a significant decorating trend that can increase the beauty and value of your home using sustainable, ecologically friendly and responsible materials.

Why interior glass doors make sense

For some people, decorating is about more than expressing style. Increasingly, people are taking the ecological impact of their lifestyles into account when decorating their homes. The use of renewable, sustainable and ecologically friendly materials is a serious consideration, so glass is high on the list of materials welcome in this approach to decorating.

Glass is infinitely renewable. As an added bonus, the recycling process for glass takes less energy than the process for producing glass from scratch. By incorporating different materials, glassmakers can create different desirable characteristics for the resulting glass, including textures, tints and varying degrees of strength.

Glass doors are commonly used in offices and retail spaces, but they’ve only recently made their grand return to residential decorating. Prior to the Great Depression, glass was one of the materials commonly used in residential decorating. The poor economy of the 1930’s followed by material shortages in the 1940’s effectively reduced the use of glass in residential decorating in favor of simpler, more easily mass-produced materials.

From an economic standpoint, glass is common and readily available, and the materials used in glass production are simple and abundant. The float glass process wasn’t perfected until the 1950’s, but glass has been used extensively in the US for hundreds of years. In fact, the first glass factory was built in what is now the United States in 1608! Glass was a staple in certain types of furniture, including cupboards and cabinets, but whether for practical or preferential reasons, the use glass virtually disappeared in interior design in the US in the first half of the 20th century.

Fortunately today it’s making a resurgence, and in a big way! There have never been more options for incorporating glass into residential spaces, starting with interior glass doors. Interior glass doors can be left as-is, or they can be augmented with special coatings like Glassprimer™ glass paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint is durable, easy to apply and produces excellent results. Glassprimer™ glass paint creates a permanent bond with the glass, and offers exceptional UV resistance. This allows the penetration of light, while reducing the amount of heat generated by UV-light. In addition, Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used to enhance privacy as a cost-effective substitute for acid-etched frosted glass.

If you’d like more information about applying Glassprimer™ glass paint to interior glass doors, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store.

Photo Credit: Toth Istvan, via FreeImages.com

Interior glass options continue to grow

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Interior glass options continue to grow

Interior glass options continue to grow

Glass is both an interior and an exterior design material. It’s been manufactured for more than two thousand years, so it definitely has enduring qualities. It’s both decorative and practical, and recently, it’s been rediscovered as an interior surface. Interior glass is being developed and improved all the time.

Interior glass for multiple applications

Low-iron glass. Low-iron glass, also known as toughened T-glass or laminated glass, is an ideal option for interior decorating. The lack of tint means that the glass itself won’t interfere with color applications. Because it has a low iron content, it does not have the green cast that regular sheet glass does. Low-iron glass isn’t new, but it has a clear, bright white appearance, which makes it ideal for decorating large installations. Large installations could include wall coverings, glass backsplashes, doors, countertops and windows. Several manufacturers make low-iron glass, but it is marketed under brand names including Diamant, Eurowhite, Krystal Klear, Optiwhite, Starlite and Starphire, among others.

Low-e glass. Low-emissivity glass is used in applications where UV and infrared light isn’t desirable, but the visible spectrum is. In applications where low-e performance is desirable, Glassprimer™ glass paint provides an affordable option. Glassprimer™ glass paint is highly reflective and UV resistant, making it an ideal coating to achieve low-emissivity objectives using ordinary glass.

Tinted glass. Tinted glass is an attractive option for interior and exterior design. Tinting creates privacy, offers a uniform appearance and reduces glare. When tinted glass isn’t an option, Glassprimer™ glass paint can offer the same option. Glassprimer™ glass paint is available in virtually any color and bonds permanently with the surface of the glass. It resists fading and delamination, and performs well in both humid and dry environments.

If you’d like more information about decorating with glass, or modifying interior glass with Glassprimer™ glass paint, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Klaus Stenzel , via FreeImages.com

Types of glass and how they’re used

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Types of glass and how they're used

Types of glass and how they’re used

“Glass” is a pretty broad term, but there are dozens of different kinds of glass. How glass is made and what it’s made of determine how the glass looks and what it can do. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the most common types of glass and what makes them stand out.

Most common types of glass are flat, container

Flat glass. One of the most common types of glass is “flat glass.” This kind of glass may also be called “sheet glass” or “plate glass.” Flat glass is the kind of glass you use in windows. You can also use it in doors and cars, interior walls – really anyplace you need a sheet of glass. Flat glass comes in a variety of thicknesses and can include many materials.

The term “flat” is a little misleading because flat glass isn’t always flat! Flat glass can be shaped or bent after it’s initially produced. This allows “flat” glass to be custom shaped for applications like windshields. Flat glass is the most common kind of glass produced today. It uses the basic glass formula – soda, lime and silica. It’s inexpensive to make, infinitely recyclable, chemically stable and relatively hard, but is soft enough to be scratched by steel. Soda-lime glass is liquid at a temperature of about 1,400-1,600° C. Most glass is recycled; the melting temperature of recycled glass is actually lower than that of newly formed glass.

Today, flat glass is mass-produced by spreading (or floating) flowing molten soda-lime-silica mixture over a molten metal (usually tin) bed. The molten glass “floats” on top of the molten metal bed. The glass can be made thicker or thinner by varying the speed of the rollers that move the molten glass along in the production process. The molten glass flattens uniformly under its own weight, and is slowly cooled (annealed) in the final stages of the manufacturing process. The resulting glass does not need to be polished or ground. It can be cut into smaller sheets, and used in a wide variety of applications.

Container glass. Container glass is a “close cousin” of flat glass. It uses the same basic formula of soda-lime-silica, but it differs slightly in composition. Container glass has higher concentrations of silica, calcium oxide and aluminum oxide, and lower concentrations of magnesium oxide and sodium oxide. This minor variation in formula gives container glass a slight edge over flat glass in chemical durability. These minor differences make container glass a better choice for storing foods and liquids.

Container glass starts out as a molten mixture, just like flat glass does, but instead of floating, container glass is created by blowing or pressing the molten glass, to achieve the desired shape. Container glass is usually much thicker than flat glass and slightly more durable, although not significantly so.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is designed to work with all types of glass. Most commonly, flat glass is used for decorative applications. Flat glass is used to create decorative backsplashes, glass doors, glass walls and glass windows. The minor differences in glass formulation will not change the performance of Glassprimer™ glass paint when it is used on either flat glass or container glass. Beyond flat glass and container glass, there are a number of different types of glass, which we’ll look at in subsequent posts.

For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Glass trends: what’s new in glass?

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Glass trends: what's new in glass?

Glass trends: what’s new in glass?

Glass is an insanely versatile material. The growing popularity of glass has given rise to some new interior decorating and design trends worth mentioning. If you think of glass primarily in the context of windows, you’re not thinking correctly about glass! Here are a few glass trends to keep your eye on.

Colored glass is trending

From Milan: If you missed last month’s Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the premiere furniture show in Milan, you missed a lot of creative uses for glass. Chromatic glass made a big splash, and for good reason! It’s fun to look at; it’s versatile and it has the potential to be a decorating superstar.

At a basic level, chromatic glass is just colored glass. But chromatic glass can be so much more! Smart glass takes color to a whole new level. Smart glass (or the glazing on “smart” glass) takes on different light transmission properties when heat, light or voltage is applied to the glass. In layman’s terms, the glass can change color! The decorating potential of color-alterable glass is obvious, but “smart glass” is more than just a pretty face.

Smart glass can be used as a building material that changes on-demand. Think electronic shades, custom glare controls, and UV-protection at the touch of a button! As a decorating material, “smart” glass can change color and opacity on –demand, creating a raft of options for practical and artistic applications.

From the US Glass is making a big splash in home decorating in the form of glass doors. Glass doors with frosted insets are a growing trend in American homes. Frameless doors, which have been popular in commercial installations, are growing in popularity for residential decorating. Also popular are interior sliding glass doors, glass pocket doors and wood-frame doors with glass insets.

From Spain: Glass tiles have not lost their luster in Spain. Glass tiles are versatile decorating materials, and can be used effectively as “working” surfaces in the kitchen and bath, and as decorative surfaces in entryways and other rooms in the house. The use of glass tile doesn’t show signs of slowing down in Europe, and isn’t likely to slow down in the US.

Colored glass and color-coated glass are trending upward and are expected to be strong for the foreseeable future. If you’d like more information about decorating with glass, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: John Spencer , via FreeImages.com

Using glass to expand your space

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Using glass to expand your space

Using glass to expand your space

Glass is a very versatile decorating material, but it can also become an integral part of the design of a room. Glass has long been used in interior design for commercial spaces, but more people are incorporating glass into their home interiors.

Glass is at home, inside and out!

Glass is attractive as a design element because it transmits natural light. Being able to distribute light more effectively around a space tends to “open up” the design, and gives the space a lighter feel. It also creates more design options in terms of compatible flooring choices and room layout.

Some daring uses of glass in interior residential spaces include glass stairs, glass room dividers, glass doors and door walls, and glass countertops. Glass is the expected material choice for exterior windows, but interior windows and glass panels can help create the illusion of space, even in confined quarters.

Nothing opens a room like floor-to-ceiling glass windows and skylights. Being able to see the sky from an interior space can visually double or even triple the apparent size of a small room.

It’s important to maintain a balance between the amount of interior and exterior glass. When designing a space, it’s important to keep in mind that exterior glass will transmit UV-light. UV-light can get “trapped” by glass and can really heat up a space quickly. This trapped heat will exert additional pressure on the building’s cooling system and can potentially increase the amount of energy needed to keep a space comfortable. Additionally, a large amount of exterior glass can cause heat to escape the building during the winter. Because glass has poor insulating qualities, buildings that use a large amount of glass will also require additional energy to keep the space comfortable in the winter.

Glassprimer™ glass paint uses a patented nano-bonding technology that actually modifies the surface of the glass to allow the paint to make a permanent bond. Glassprimer™ glass paint cures completely within 24-72 hours, and once cured, the paint will remain on the glass permanently. In fact, when applied according to the terms of the Glassprimer™ warranty, Glassprimer™ glass paint is warranted to be free from defects on interior applications for a period of 10 years. This stellar performance allows Glassprimer™ glass paint to create a reliable, beautiful and durable coating and improve energy efficiency for the practical life of the installation.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .
Photo Credit: Pierre Benker, via FreeImages.com

Gorilla glass: What is it?!

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Gorilla glass: What is it?!

Gorilla glass: What is it?!

You may have heard of the term “Gorilla glass,” and wondered what it is. In a nutshell, Gorilla glass is a brand name for a specialized glass product made by Corning. It is designed to be lightweight, resistant to damage and thin. It’s not the kind of glass you’d want to use around the house, and it’s not something you’d want to apply glass paint to, but you probably carry some of it around with you in a pocket or purse every time you carry your smartphone.

What Gorilla glass can do

Gorilla glass – in one form or another – has been around much longer than you think. Corning first started experimenting with different formulations of glass, looking for ways to strengthen it. What they developed was a product they sold under the Chemcor brand, called “muscled glass.” It was a specialty product that was used in automobiles and airplanes, industrial applications and in the pharmaceutical industry until the 1990’s, when it was replaced by other glass formulations.

But while “Gorilla glass” may have fallen out of vogue, it wasn’t forgotten. Ten years later, electronics manufacturers –most noticeably Apple – began to develop iPads and iPods- all with glass covers that were prone to breakage. So, Corning introduced Apple to Chemcor glass. The old Chemcor formulation produced glass that was too thick for the handheld devices we all know and love, but Corning began tinkering with the old Chemcor formula, and the rest is history. By 2008, the new, thin and almost scratchless “Gorilla glass” formulation was in production, and now sells at a rate of more than $1B per year.

But Corning hasn’t forgotten about Gorilla glass’s Chemcor roots. And apparently neither has the Ford Motor Company. Ford is using the Gorilla glass formulation for the front and rear windshields in the 2016 Ford GT. The glass reduces the weight of the car by 12 pounds without compromising the strength of the windshield. (A windshield can weigh 40 pounds or more.)

According to the Ford Motor Company, the new windshield formulation is actually a hybrid of three different layers – one layer of Corning automotive Gorilla glass, a thermoplastic layer and an annealed glass layer. A traditional windshield consists of just two layers – a thermoplastic layer and a layer of annealed glass. This approach to making automotive glass was developed by Henry Ford, and has been in use for more than 100 years.

While Gorilla glass isn’t something you’d use for decorating (yet, anyway), it does underscore the versatility of glass, and how changes in the basic formulation can really change what glass can do!

If you’d like more information about working with Glassprimer™ glass paint, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Ford Motor Company

Architectural glass and Glassprimer™ glass paint

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Architectural glass and Glassprimer™ glass paint

Architectural glass and Glassprimer™ glass paint

Glass has been used in decorating and interior design throughout recorded history, but it fell out of the residential landscape during the post-World War II housing boom, when materials were hard to come by. Architectural glass has remained a staple in commercial buildings, in both interior and exterior applications.

Using Glassprimer™ glass paint with architectural glass

The use of architectural glass in buildings poses a challenge. By itself, glass isn’t energy-efficient. In the summer, glass tends to trap heat in buildings. That requires significant amounts of energy to make the building comfortable. In the winter, heat readily escapes. Just as in the summer, the low insulating ability of glass means increased energy use to make the building comfortable.

Nonetheless, glass has made a comeback in interior design, and in a variety of ways. Glass is an extremely versatile material, and can be shaped in a variety of ways, and incorporate a limitless number of textures. Using shapes and textures, glass makes an ideal material for doors, walls, partitions, furniture and countertops.

In some cases, it may be desirable to treat the glass to improve its performance, create additional privacy or even improve the energy efficiency of a space. Because of its nature, glass doesn’t typically take paint or other coatings very well. This limits your ability to modify the glass.

Enter Glassprimer™ glass paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint is specially formulated to bond to the surface of glass. This makes Glassprimer™ glass paint an ideal coating for surfaces like textured glass, which won’t retain applied films. With Glassprimer™ glass paint, you can apply a permanent surface coating to the glass that will remain beautiful for years.

Glassprimer™ glass paint reflects UV light, which reduces the amount of trapped heat in buildings in the summer, and allows the glass to better reduce heat losses in the winter. Glassprimer™ can help improve the overall energy efficiency of building windows. It also offers an option for decorating or improving architectural glass used in building interiors.

Glassprimer™ glass paint comes in virtually any color and can be tinted to match the color palette of any major paint manufacturer. It is also more cost-effective than acid-etched glass.

Photo Credit: Romina Chamorro , via FreeImages.com

Backpainted glass room dividers

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Backpainted glass room dividers

Backpainted glass room dividers

In the last couple of posts, we’ve looked at backpainted glass in the kitchen and the bathroom, but backpainted glass is at home in other rooms in the house, and even in the office! Glass is a simple, yet elegant building material and can be used for interior or exterior applications.

Backpainted glass room dividers for home and office

Glass room dividers are gaining in popularity. We don’t always (or often) think of doors as room dividers, but glass doors make beautiful room dividers. Glass room dividers can be stand-alone screens, hanging screens or they can be integrated into solid walls.

In commercial settings, conference rooms are often surrounded partially or completely by glass. Clear glass isn’t always desirable in the work environment. To minimize distraction and increase privacy, while still permitting light to filter through, consider using Glassprimer™ glass paint to create a frosted glass effect.

You don’t need to paint the entire glass panel to achieve the desired results. By painting just three-quarters of the panel, you can achieve the goal of creating more privacy without blocking incoming light. You can also incorporate designs, patterns or logos into the paint to enhance the visual appeal of the painted glass.

In a home setting, Glassprimer™ glass paint can allow you to incorporate glass into bedroom and bathroom doors, while still preserving privacy. You can also install frameless or framed glass doors between the kitchen and dining room to enhance the look and function of the dining space.

Home offices and studios are gaining in popularity. More people work from home today than ever before, so for some people, a home office is a necessity. Not all homes were designed with a workspace in mind, so in some layouts, you need to create a suitable workspace. Glass doors between a workspace and living space can create an appropriate visual and practical division.

Backpainted glass can be both decorative and functional. If you’d like more information about incorporating backpainted glass room dividers into the design of your home or office space, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Raumplus North America

Backpainted glass in the bathroom

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Backpainted glass in the bathroom

Backpainted glass in the bathroom

In yesterday’s post, I discussed the use of glass as a decorating material, and how it can be used in the kitchen. The kitchen in any home is one of the toughest environments. Rapid changes in heat and humidity, and exposure to UV light make the space a challenge. In addition, we’re likely to use some of the harshest cleaning chemicals on the surfaces in the kitchen, and constant exposure to water and water-based compounds mean that whatever you use to decorate the kitchen will have to be tough. If there’s any room that’s tougher to decorate than the kitchen, it’s the bathroom. In today’s post, we’ll look at how you can use backpainted glass in the bathroom.

Glass is ideal material for tough environments

The bathroom has many of the same challenges the kitchen does. High humidity is an absolute given. If you’ve ever tried to maintain a bathroom, you know that it’s one of the hardest rooms in the house to maintain, even under ideal conditions. Paint just doesn’t perform well in humidity. It tends to delaminate from any surface. Water-based paints are especially vulnerable to this condition, but most people don’t want to use oil-based paints in the house – and for good reason!

To put it bluntly, oil-based paints stink. And stink. And stink some more. They’re loaded with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which not only smell bad, but also they’re hazardous to human health. That’s not the only downside. Oil based paints are prone to yellowing with age, and they don’t dry in high humidity. Oil based paints can take hours to dry to the touch. They are also considered hazardous waste, so disposal isn’t straightforward.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is different. It’s specially engineered to stick to glass, but it can also permanently bond with other surfaces, like Plexiglas™. In the same way you can use backpainted glass in the kitchen, you can use it in the bathroom. Because the bathroom doesn’t get quite as hot as the kitchen, and because there are no serious high-heat dangers, you could use regular untempered glass to create a beautiful backsplash for the bathroom. Tempered glass is stronger, and will give you some additional impact protection. (Tempered glass can break, though!)

The bathroom is a high humidity environment, so mold and mildew are right at home. Because Glassprimer™ glass paint bonds permanently to glass, you do not need to worry about encroachment from mold or mildew growing between the paint and the glass. Your backpainted glass will retain its beautiful, like-new look for years to come.

If you’d like more information about working with Glassprimer™ glass paint, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

You can also use glass countertops in the bathroom. Low-iron glass (Starphire glass) can be backpainted and mounted as a custom countertop installation. Glass countertops range in thickness from 1.5″ to 4″ (or more) and can create a dramatic, clean and elegant look in the bathroom. Just as in the kitchen, glass is easy to clean and sanitize, and is impervious to germs and biological agents.

Photo Credit: Joanie Cahill, via FreeImages.com