TECH TIP: Mask for better silver stain application

Stains are corrosive to metals. I use brushes with plastic ferrels, a plastic palette knife, mix stains in plastic or glass containers and use a dedicated badger blender for stains.

Mask the area to be stained with contact paper.

Apply the stain broadly with a brush - keep the entire area evenly damp. The mixture should not be too wet. Consider this as a guideline: If you applied it to a horizontal surface the mixture would not drip.

Blend it with a badger blender.

Stop blending before the stain starts to dry. Dry the stain at this point with a hair dryer but be careful not to disturb it with too much "wind". When dry, remove the mask and watch for any stray flakes of dry stain that cling to the glass by static electricity. Remove these with a soft brush. Fire the stain face up in the kiln. It will contaminate the kiln shelf if fired face down. If you must fire the stain down use a removable barrier layer - like disposable fiber paper or a dusting of whiting.

You can blend the wet stain in a complex shape by masking as described above.

Here is another example of shading the application of stain.