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Backpainted Glass Is An Ideal Surface

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Backpainted Glass Is An Ideal Surface

Backpainted Glass Is An Ideal Surface

If you’re looking for a tough yet practical surface for use in a kitchen or bath, consider backpainted glass. Backpainted glass offers the advantages of brilliant color and an easy-to-clean surface that’s ideal for those demanding areas of your home.

Backpainted glass can be used to protect walls and surfaces without compromising on color or style. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be tinted to match the paint palette of virtually any paint manufacturer. Whether you’re looking for neutral tones or a brilliant splash of color, you can find what you’re looking for with Glassprimer™ glass paint.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is easy to apply using ordinary painting tools. We recommend the use of a high-volume, low-pressure paint sprayer for complete and even coverage. Even application ensures the lowest overall drying time between coats, which helps keep your paint project moving forward.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is also economical. You can achieve excellent coverage for about $1 per square foot. With our expert color matching, you can confidently use Glassprimer™ in those areas where it’s needed, and conventional matching paint in areas that are best suited for it.

Mounting backpainted glass is easy. We recommend the use of a neutral cure silicone adhesive or a mirror mastic. Both adhesives dry quickly and they’re strong enough to support the weight of glass. Better still, the adhesives will not show through the paint, so you get a smooth, attractive appearance on the finished product.

Glass works well as a surface in kitchens and bathrooms. Glass can tolerate household cleaners and sanitizers very well, so your surface can be washed regularly with no impact on the paint color or the integrity of the painted surface.

While glass is tough enough to use in the most demanding areas of your home, you can also use glass surfaces in virtually any room of your home. Glassprimer™ glass paint is a low-odor, low-VOC preparation, so you can use it comfortably in your home.

If you’d like to learn more about using Glassprimer™ glass paint to decorate surfaces in your home, please visit the rest of our site.
Photo Credit: Design Initiative, via Flickr.com

UV Light Resistance and Glass Paint

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UV Light Resistance and Glass Paint

UV Light Resistance and Glass Paint

We tend to forget that light contains components that we can’t see. Our eyes are able to detect only a portion of all of the light frequencies that the Sun emits. The invisible light waves – called ultra-violet and infrared light – are easy to forget about, until you see their effects.

Infrared light is responsible for heat generation. When you sit in the sun, your body is taking advantage of the heat that IR light generates. At the same time, you’re exposing yourself to ultraviolet rays, which cause sunburns! While you can’t see either IR light or UV light, you can certainly feel their effects.

As it turns out, a lot of things are negatively impacted by UV radiation. Packaging experts spend a lot of time trying to create protection against UV radiation because it can damage products, even while they sit on the shelf in the store.

Food products and cosmetics are particularly susceptible to UV damage, so coatings that protect package contents are exceptionally important. Glass is a common packaging material for a wide range of products, and Glassprimer™ glass paint can help reduce UV infiltration. Because it’s specially designed to block UV radiation, it can protect product quality and improve product longevity.

Ordinary paint fades. The change in color is gradual, so you may not notice it at first, but sunlight damages paint. It changes the color and can make the paint chip, crack and peel. The UV protection in Glassprimer™ glass paint means that the paint will not fade, even when it is exposed to direct sunlight over a long period of time. It also resists cracking and peeling, which means that it will look great year after year after year.

If you have a tough-to-manage spot in your home or office – one that’s exposed regularly to sunlight or that has a history of chipping, fading or peeling, Glassprimer™ glass paint could provide the ideal solution. Simply backpaint glass in the color of your choice and mount the glass to the wall, using a neutral cure silicone adhesive, and enjoy beautiful color with minimal maintenance.

Photo Credit: Natasha Wheatland, via Flickr.com

Glass Decorating Enjoys a Revival

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Glass Decorating Enjoys a Revival

Glass Decorating Enjoys a Revival

Glass is an exceptional decorating and design material, and you have to admit that it has a lot going for it. It’s inexpensive when compared to other decorating materials. It’s versatile. It’s generally a “local” product. It’s simple. It transmits light. It’s practical. It can be used in interiors or exteriors. It’s generally safe. It’s a great sound insulator. It’s elegant – the list goes on.

Despite these clear advantages, glass wasn’t heavily used in decoration until relatively recently. Fortunately, designers are rediscovering the long list of benefits that glass offers. Improvements in glass have made it possible to safely incorporate glass into virtually every area of a home or office space.

Laminated and tempered glasses offer protection from breakage and potential injury. That enables glass to be used safely in doors, room dividers, displays and even in furniture. Although the transparency of glass can make it a useful decorating material, you can enhance the glass by coating it with paint.

Ordinary paints won’t bond to glass because paint is designed to adhere to porous surfaces. Because the paint can’t adhere to non-porous glass, it is vulnerable to chipping, peeling and fading once the paint has dried. It also fares poorly in high humidity environments.

Glass paint is specially formulated, so it does more than coat glass. It creates a nanoscale bond with the surface of the glass, so once it is cured, the paint is bonded permanently. It will not chip or peel because it actually modifies the surface of the glass. Ordinary paint doesn’t do that. In addition, Glassprimer™ glass paint is designed to provide superior UV resistance, so it won’t fade, even when it’s exposed to direct sunlight. That makes it ideal for a variety of painting projects that incorporate glass.

Glass has a number of decorating advantages. If it isn’t currently on your list of go-to materials, it should be!

Photo Credit: Chuck Berridge, via Flickr.com

Iconic Glass Structures – Cayan Tower

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Iconic Glass Structures – Cayan Tower

Iconic Glass Structures – Cayan Tower

Dubai is fast becoming the “go-to” city for iconic architecture. The city is home to some of the most unusual and challenging new building designs. The glass and concrete Cayan Tower is in good company. Initially called the Infinity Tower, Cayan Tower is a 73-story building with a twist – a 90° twist, to be exact.

Cayan Tower opened in 2013, and at the time of its debut, was the tallest “twisted tower” in the world. It has since been eclipsed by the Shanghai Tower, another twisted tower in China. It is currently the 86th tallest building in the world and the 23rd tallest building in the Middle East. Construction on the tower began in 2006 and was interrupted for about a year and a half to correct flooding problems in the tower’s foundation.

Cayan Tower is a luxury apartment and condominium project. Each above-grade floor is identical, but each floor is offset by 1.2°, giving the tower its distinctive helical shape. The twist is more than just a visual gimmick. The offset of each floor is enough to provide a self-shading building, which reduces the building’s overall energy consumption. In addition, the building’s twisted shape helps to shield the building from airborne sand, which can be carried by daily winds in Dubai.

The building’s concrete superstructure is specially cooled to help the building discharge heat that may have built up during the day. The overnight cooling system helps reduce the building’s daytime energy consumption. The windows in each unit are operable, which enables residents to take advantage of natural ventilation when the weather conditions permit.

Although the Cayan Tower provides exceptional views of the Dubai Marina and the Arabian Gulf, not all urban buildings are blessed with beautiful views. If that describes your situation, you can improve your view by using Glassprimer™ glass paint to coat your windows. Glassprimer™ glass paint provides translucent coverage, to permit light transmission and effectively transform an unpleasant view.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our site.

Photo Credit: Guilheim Vellut, via Flickr.com

Design rehabs feature light and glass

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Design rehabs feature light and glass

Design rehabs feature light and glass

Remodeling can be an exceptional challenge for designers. Working in a space that’s already been designed can sometimes limit what you can do. For example, building interiors in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s featured a lot of dark, heavy materials. Those buildings are dated, and many of them are due for major rehab work.

Contemporary designs are visually light. They try to make the most of natural lighting and favor open floor plans. Dark woods, stone and granite don’t do a good job of transmitting natural light, so designers look for substitute materials that can transform the space and create a more contemporary look.

Designers are turning to lighter colored marbles and composites to replace dark marble, dark wood and granite. They’re opening floor plans by removing interior walls and replacing them with glass dividers.

Retail redesigns are taking significant inspiration from the latest Apple store design. The new Apple footprint features soaring glass doors that open the entire retail space. This approach blurs the distinction between indoor and outdoor, and welcomes buyers into a unique retail space.

Another new innovation that will quickly make its appearance in redesigns is “invisible” glass. The term is a bit shocking – considering that glass is the ultimate transparent material – but so-called invisible glass is ultraclear, ultra white and looks fantastic in any application.

Another indispensable decorating tool for glass surfaces is Glassprimer™ glass paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint is specially formulated to bond to glass and other impervious surfaces. It can be color-matched to virtually any color available from any major paint manufacturer, so it can be integrated easily into virtually any decorating plan. Because Glassprimer™ glass paint is highly UV resistant, you can be confident that your glass paint project will look great year after year, even when the paint is exposed to direct sunlight.

Please visit our site to learn more about glass paint, and how you can incorporate it into your decorating plans.

Photo Credit: Local Louisville, via Flickr.com

Stained Glass Inspires Computer Game

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Stained Glass Inspires Computer Game

Stained Glass Inspires Computer Game

Artists have used stained glass for years to inspire both themselves and their admirers, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that software developers at Mangatar would turn to stained glass as a motif for their latest computer game, Little Briar Rose.

The cross-platform point-and-click fantasy adventure game uses “stained glass” visuals throughout the game, which is populated by fairies, gnomes, wizards and princesses. The stained glass style was chosen to give the game an “ancient fairy tale” feel.

Creating a computer simulation of stained glass is complex, but computer developers don’t face the same challenges that artists who make genuine stained glass do. Lately, stained glass artisans have been working to confront the fact that their chosen medium can carry some serious environmental risks.

The deep, vibrant colors that are characteristic of stained glass come from heavy metals and toxic compounds like arsenic, cadmium, chromium, selenium and lead. Further, typical stained glass windows use lead beading to hold the colored glass pieces and create the classic stained glass look.

The raw materials for stained glass and furnaces willing to make stained glass are becoming more scarce. Artists are always looking for alternative media that enable them to create similar works more safely.

Glass paint can be an ideal substitute for traditional stained glass. The range and depth of glass paint colors is amazing. Painted glass has been an art form for hundreds of years. In fact, many “stained” glass windows are actually painted glass.

Modern glass paints, like Glassprimer™ glass paint are engineered to bond to glass surfaces permanently. This eliminates the need to fire the paint once it has been applied to the glass. Glassprimer™ glass paint is also translucent and UV resistant, so light will filter through it, and the colors won’t fade, even in direct sunlight.

Please visit our site to learn more about Glassprimer™ glass paint.

Photo Credit: Steven Snodgrass, via Flickr.com

Bird Lovers Throw Flag On Vikings Glass Stadium

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Bird Lovers Throw Flag On Vikings Glass Stadium

Bird Lovers Throw Flag On Vikings Glass Stadium

The Minnesota Vikings’ new home is less than a year old, but conservationists are already assessing a penalty on US Bank Stadium for its mirrored glass surface. Avian experts say the building is a deathtrap for birds, and points to at least 60 bird deaths during the NFL season that were attributed to collisions with the building. Bird lovers also collected an additional 14 birds that crashed into the building, but survived.

The new stadium is made of highly reflective glass, which birds cannot distinguish from open sky. The result – birds are crashing into the building at a rate that alarms animal welfare groups. Using the figures collected so far, conservationists say that the stadium will likely cause the deaths of hundreds of birds over the next three years. They also point out that their figures don’t include bird carcasses that the stadium caretakers removed.

Before construction was completed on the stadium, the Audubon Society raised serious concerns about the building’s mirrored glass surface, and warned that the proposed design would result in a high number of bird-building collisions. The Audubon Society proposed coating the building’s glass surface to make it more visible to birds, but the owners declined.

A new study will be conducted over the next two years to re-examine the issue of safety for local birds, but until the study is completed, the owners have no plans to modify the outside of the taxpayer-funded stadium.

Avian experts estimate that collisions with glass buildings account for about 1 billion bird deaths each year worldwide. They propose modifying the surface of glass to make it easier for birds to distinguish structures from open air.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specially engineered glass coating that can help increase the visibility of a building by modifying the surface of glass. Changing the reflectivity of glass through the use of glass paint can make a building more bird-friendly without disturbing a building’s visual aesthetics.

Photo Credit: Paul VanDerWerf, via Flickr

Colored electrochromic glass may be available soon

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Colored electrochromic glass may be available soon

Colored electrochromic glass may be available soon

The desire to make glass buildings more energy efficient is strong. By itself, glass isn’t a very good thermal insulator. Heat can pass easily through glass, so whether you’re talking about heat loss or heat gain, the end result for glass isn’t promising.

Scientists have gone out of their way to develop coatings and technologies that can help glass become more energy efficient. Electrochromic glass is one of those technologies that changes the tint on glass from clear to dark, but it also offers the benefit of keeping the inside temperatures manageable.

When the glass switches from transparent to tinted, it rejects the infrared light frequencies that generate extra heat. Currently electrochromic glass comes in one “color” – which happens to be blue. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Potsdam-Golm have developed a new technique for creating electrochromic glass in colors other than blue.

The project is being underwritten by the German government, and could create a range of decorative colored glasses that offer the same or similar energy-saving properties. Currently, electrochromic glass is created by applying a thin film of indium tin oxide or fluorine tin oxide to a single pane of glass. This first coating makes the glass conductive. A second glass pane is similarly prepared, and coated with an additional layer of tungsten oxide, which will change color when voltage is applied. The glass panes are put together face-to-face with a thin electrolyte layer between them.

When a low voltage is applied to electrochromic glass, the tungsten oxide coating darkens enough to reject heat-generating IR lightwaves, but not enough to eliminate visible light transmission. The switch can take some time – between 15 and 20 minutes. That’s true whether the glass is darkening or lightening.

The German researchers are investigating a different production technique that eliminates the second coating of tungsten oxide and using a UV cured resin filling in place of the electrolyte. A direct current to the surface causes form an electrochromic polymer. The technique has a few significant advantages over traditional electrochromic glass. First, a color shift can take place using much less voltage and second, it allows the addition of organic colorants that can produce colors other than blue. Finally, a switch from a transparent state to a colored one can take place in about 30 seconds.

The new manufacturing method also produces glass tiles that are strong enough to be mounted overhead or under foot. It could also be installed in vehicles, like ships or cars.

The new colored electrochromic glass is still in development, but Glassprimer™ glass paint can offer a highly economical substitute for creating colored glass. Glassprimer™ glass paint bonds permanently to glass surfaces and could be used to coat either interior or exterior projects. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our website.

Photo Credit: picsessionsart, via Flickr

Could China Be Moving Away From Glass Architecture

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Could China Be Moving Away From Glass Architecture

Could China Be Moving Away From Glass Architecture

Last month, the Chinese government issued a new edict regarding construction in the country: going forward, no “weird” architecture will be approved. “Weird” architecture includes landmark buildings like the China Central Television Headquarters. CCTV is a giant glass and steel structure that’s affectionately known as “Big Pants.”

In addition to putting the kibosh on eccentric construction, the State Council also eliminated gated communities and illegal structures on the mainland. According to the State Council, all urban architecture must be “suitable, economic, green and pleasing to the eye.” It called out buildings that are “oversized, xenocentric and weird” saying that they expressed a “lack of cultural confidence” and “distorted attitudes about political achievements.”

The State Council is trying to curb a growing trend in some cities to build impractical or bizarre buildings that don’t fulfill a public need, yet consume public resources. The impractical nature of some buildings inflate their operating costs and some buildings are torn down relatively soon after their completion.

The State Council also directed cities to identify and remove illegal structures in their jurisdictions within five years. Cities have also been directed to regulate the safety and quality of new building projects.

The directive doesn’t specifically call for an end to the use of glass in architecture, however traditional architectural glass may not meet the State Council’s “economic” requirement. Additional focus is being trained on coating technologies to improve the energy performance of glass.

Glassprimer™ glass paint could factor into strategies to make glass more energy efficient. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used to control light and heat in a building. Its UV resistance means that the color of the paint will remain fresh and vibrant for years, even when exposed to direct sunlight. In addition to blocking out UV light, GlassPrimer™ glass paint can be used on a variety of interior decoration projects. If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site.

Photo Credit: Bjarke Liboriussen, via Flickr

Solar glass research may improve greenhouses

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Solar glass research may improve greenhouses

Solar glass research may improve greenhouses

Australian researchers from Edith Cowan University have received a $1.6 million grant to improve the development of a type of solar glass that could improve food production in greenhouses. The glass currently generates 50 watts of power per square meter of surface area.

The glass allows the researchers to selectively control light radiation. Controlling solar radiation within the greenhouse enables growers to maximize crop yields. The generated power is stored and used for desalinization, irrigation, heating and cooling. Those activities could allow greenhouses to work at maximum production outside of the natural growing cycle and independent of their environment.

An independent greenhouse could allow food production to take place in areas that are naturally too hot, too cold or that lack water, and could not otherwise sustain agriculture. According to the researchers, worldwide greenhouse agriculture generates as much production as 1.2 million acres of natural agricultural land. In Australia, greenhouses account for about 20% of the country’s annual vegetable production. In other areas of the world, independent greenhouses could provide enough sustainable agriculture to address chronic food shortages.

The glass is interesting not only from an agricultural perspective, but also for its ability to generate power under other circumstances. The glass that makes the power production possible includes an active IR and UV resistant layer sandwiched between two panes of glass. The interlayer allows the transmission of visible light through the glass, but harvests the non-visible frequencies and redirects them toward energy production.

The makers of the glass, ClearVue, hope to see the glass included in construction projects, and in areas where power is needed but isn’t readily available.

Glass coatings can really improve the look or function of glass. A coating like GlassPrimer™ glass paint can help control light, or give a unique look and feel to a room. For more information about GlassPrimer™ glass paint, and how you can use it in your home, please visit the rest of our site.

Photo Credit: Marian Dork, via Flickr