I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive.
Next question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear
glass a tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint?
Flat, glossy?

Harlan Messinger wrote:
I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive.
Next question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear
glass a tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint?
Flat, glossy?

I have never heard of intentionally painting glass but it happens by
accident all the time. You might have better luck if you scratch up
the glass with some steel wool. I think a glossy paint would be ok for
such a project. Q: Why not just use a piece of plywood instead??

Lawrence wrote:
Harlan Messinger wrote:
I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive.
Next question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear
glass a tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint?
Flat, glossy?

I have never heard of intentionally painting glass but it happens by
accident all the time. You might have better luck if you scratch up
the glass with some steel wool. I think a glossy paint would be ok for
such a project. Q: Why not just use a piece of plywood instead??

Paint the underside of the glass works fine . A better option would be
glass paint or dye , available from most good craft stores like hobby
lobby or even wal mart

wrote:
Lawrence wrote:
Harlan Messinger wrote:
I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive.
Next question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear
glass a tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint?
Flat, glossy?
I have never heard of intentionally painting glass but it happens by
accident all the time. You might have better luck if you scratch up
the glass with some steel wool. I think a glossy paint would be ok for
such a project. Q: Why not just use a piece of plywood instead??

Paint the underside of the glass works fine . A better option would be
glass paint or dye , available from most good craft stores like hobby
lobby or even wal mart


Oh, cool. I guess that's what stained glass hobbyists use? Thanks.

"Harlan Messinger" wrote in message
...
I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive. Next
question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear glass a
tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint? Flat, glossy?
No, it'll look like a painted-over window. Maybe some automotive
candy-coat paint would work, but if I didn't want to pay for actual tinted
glass, I'd consider just dropping sections of mirrored plate glass in there.
Slate would also work, if you can find a local dealer with pretty enough
stock in the right thickness, willing to cut it for you.

Personally, the idea of having any breakable material on a horizontal
surface seems silly to me. I'd be inclined to go to the local custom cabinet
shop, and have some hardwood panels made in a matching or contrasting
finish. They can make them nice and square, and make the edges the exact
depth so they fit perfectly flush and look like they belong there. Just cut
some exact-fit cardboard templates for the pieces, and carry them in, along
with a measurement of how thick you need the edges. The edge beveling can be
on the top or bottom, whichever works with the design of the dresser.

aem sends...

"Harlan Messinger" wrote in message
...
I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive. Next
question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear glass a
tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint? Flat, glossy?

There are sprays that can be used for tinting. When you buy the glass, be
sure to tell the glass guy what you are going to use it for. You don't want
window glass, but he will know what you need and can probably tell you what
is needed for color. A good glass store can give you much more information
than most of us.

Harlan Messinger wrote:

wrote:

Lawrence wrote:

Harlan Messinger wrote:

I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive.
Next question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear
glass a tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint?
Flat, glossy?

I have never heard of intentionally painting glass but it happens by
accident all the time. You might have better luck if you scratch up
the glass with some steel wool. I think a glossy paint would be ok for
such a project. Q: Why not just use a piece of plywood instead??


Paint the underside of the glass works fine . A better option would be
glass paint or dye , available from most good craft stores like hobby
lobby or even wal mart


Oh, cool. I guess that's what stained glass hobbyists use? Thanks.

That stuff isn't even color, as it is made to imitate the pattern of
stained glass. Any paint would work, put on the under side. If a
transparent "tint" is wanted, clear acryllic painting medium along with
the acryllic paint color of choice would probably work. I keep a can of
varnish on the shelf for decorating emergencies - touch of artist oil
color, touch of mineral spirits, some varnish. There is an art form of
reverse painting on glass, which is oil paint with colors built up so
background goes on last .. intended to be viewed from other side.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"Harlan Messinger" wrote in message
...
I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive. Next
question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear glass a
tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint? Flat, glossy?

There are sprays that can be used for tinting. When you buy the glass, be
sure to tell the glass guy what you are going to use it for. You don't want
window glass, but he will know what you need and can probably tell you what
is needed for color. A good glass store can give you much more information
than most of us.


That's a good point. Thanks.

On Mon, 18 Sep 2006 03:14:09 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Edwin
Pawlowski" quickly quoth:


"Harlan Messinger" wrote in message
...
I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive. Next
question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear glass a
tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint? Flat, glossy?

There are sprays that can be used for tinting. When you buy the glass, be
sure to tell the glass guy what you are going to use it for. You don't want
window glass, but he will know what you need and can probably tell you what
is needed for color. A good glass store can give you much more information
than most of us.

I have purchased "frosted glass look" opaque plastic sheeting before.
Most places like Lowes and Michael's carry it for privacy on bathroom
windows and for crafts.


--
Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization.
-- Charles Lindbergh

On Sun, 17 Sep 2006 12:35:53 -0400, Harlan Messinger
wrote:

wrote:
Lawrence wrote:
Harlan Messinger wrote:
I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive.
Next question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear
glass a tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint?
Flat, glossy?
I have never heard of intentionally painting glass but it happens by
accident all the time. You might have better luck if you scratch up
the glass with some steel wool. I think a glossy paint would be ok for
such a project. Q: Why not just use a piece of plywood instead??

Paint the underside of the glass works fine . A better option would be
glass paint or dye , available from most good craft stores like hobby
lobby or even wal mart


Oh, cool. I guess that's what stained glass hobbyists use? Thanks.

How about spray adhesive and colored cellophane on the underside?
Do you want an opaque finish, or translucent?

On Sun, 17 Sep 2006 19:28:32 GMT, wrote:


"Harlan Messinger" wrote in message
...
I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top.

Why do you call them inserts if they go on the top? That's why
someone yesterday thought you were putting them in the drawers. I've
seen a coffee table that took a glass insert, but never a dresser.

If the surface of the wood which will be underneath bad? It might not
be so hard to clean it up so that it looks nice under the glass.

It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive. Next
question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear glass a
tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint? Flat, glossy?
......
Personally, the idea of having any breakable material on a horizontal
surface seems silly to me.

When my parents bought my bedroom set when I was about 5, they (my
mother, that means) got glass tops for the night table and the desk.
3/16 inch I think. Beveled edges. I don't know if it was tempered
or not. I'm a good boy and never did anything that would break glass,
never dropped anything on it.

The night table because people sometimes put drinks on that, and the
desk to keep the impression of writing, etc. from making indentations
in the wood.

My brother may have lost the glass in the last 6 years, but it lasted
48 years before that with no breakage.

I think one needs to put small felt circles under the glass to keep
the glass from scraping the wood. Or maybe it keeps it from rocking??
if the wood or glass isn't perfectly flat??? Even though the desk is
four feet long I think, the glass never sagged in the middle. (I think
we only had them at the corners, but maybe also one front and back in
the middle lenghtwise.)

I sold her bedroom set 10 years ago, and the buyer took everything
out, but iirc, my mother had glass on each of her end tables, maybe
the dresser, and definitely the chest. The chest and maybe the
dresser weren't even rectangular at the top. The chest had embedded
pillars** on each side from just above the third drawer up to the top
of the 6th drawer from the bottom, which is the top. And the middles
is convex, so it must have been expensive to get the glass. That
somehow got broken at the corner 5 or 10 years before my mother died,
probably by someone other than my mother. But it still lasted 45
years. She had it taped, and it looked bad***. I should have tried
gluing it.

***It probably looked good when she first taped it, and my mother was
4 inches shorter than I, so I am not sure she could see how bad it
looked.

**I'm sure they were really half-pillars glued on and painted.

She covered her dresser, if she did, because she used it for make-up,
her nighttables for the same reason as mine, and I guess she figured
the dresser would get damaged too if it didn't have a glass top.

It really was no trouble to not break the glass.

I'd be inclined to go to the local custom cabinet
shop, and have some hardwood panels made in a matching or contrasting
finish. They can make them nice and square, and make the edges the exact
depth so they fit perfectly flush and look like they belong there. Just cut
some exact-fit cardboard templates for the pieces, and carry them in, along
with a measurement of how thick you need the edges. The edge beveling can be
on the top or bottom, whichever works with the design of the dresser.

Don't you have to bevel the top at least a little, or it will cut
people?

aem sends...

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Mon, 18 Sep 2006 03:14:09 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Edwin
Pawlowski" quickly quoth:

"Harlan Messinger" wrote in message
...
I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive. Next
question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear glass a
tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint? Flat, glossy?
There are sprays that can be used for tinting. When you buy the glass, be
sure to tell the glass guy what you are going to use it for. You don't want
window glass, but he will know what you need and can probably tell you what
is needed for color. A good glass store can give you much more information
than most of us.

I have purchased "frosted glass look" opaque plastic sheeting before.
Most places like Lowes and Michael's carry it for privacy on bathroom
windows and for crafts.

Interesting. Is it scratch-resistant?

On Tue, 19 Sep 2006 07:13:12 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm,
Harlan Messinger quickly quoth:

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Mon, 18 Sep 2006 03:14:09 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Edwin
Pawlowski" quickly quoth:

"Harlan Messinger" wrote in message
...
I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive. Next
question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear glass a
tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint? Flat, glossy?
There are sprays that can be used for tinting. When you buy the glass, be
sure to tell the glass guy what you are going to use it for. You don't want
window glass, but he will know what you need and can probably tell you what
is needed for color. A good glass store can give you much more information
than most of us.

I have purchased "frosted glass look" opaque plastic sheeting before.
Most places like Lowes and Michael's carry it for privacy on bathroom
windows and for crafts.

Interesting. Is it scratch-resistant?

Some, it's about a 6 mil vinyl sheeting. It's not much more scratch
resistant than most other shelf-type paper, but you could use it on
the underside of the glass for the privacy effect. It would probably
last pretty well on top, too, depending upon how hard you are on your
dresser. That would also pad the glass so you wouldn't need to use the
more expensive tempered glass. 1/4" plate would probably work.

Ebay has a bunch of styles to choose from. "frosted window film"

http://www.glassdecorandmore.com/cgi...ntact%20paperg

Another idea: http://www.plaskolite.com/ofrost.htm thicker frosted
acrylic sheeting instead of glass.


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mm wrote:
On Sun, 17 Sep 2006 19:28:32 GMT, wrote:

"Harlan Messinger" wrote in message
...
I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser
top.

Why do you call them inserts if they go on the top? That's why
someone yesterday thought you were putting them in the drawers.

Well, I said they were for the top, and they are. And I called them
inserts because they are inserts. The top now has wood inserts, sunk
within the frame with their tops even with frame. The inserts sit on
shelf pegs.

Don't you have to bevel the top at least a little, or it will cut
people?

Beveling is angling the face at the edges. It's separate from whether
the edges themselves are rounded, which is only important if the edges
are exposed where someone could run into them, such as with a table top
that isn't framed, which the nearest two-year-old is guaranteed to run
into head first. And both are separate from the glass being smoothed to
prevent getting cut just by touching it. My coffee table has a glass top
that isn't beveled and has 90 degree edges.