History of Glass PaintsThe main reason why glassware companies started to use glass paints to color glassware was purely economical. The production of colored glass takes a lot of experience and special craftmanship. Producing tank colored glass is very expensive, especially colored crystal.The non-transparent enamels and transparent paints, which were developed and used through the ages in Bohemia and Murano, were after WWII adopted as standard materials in the glassware industry. These paints were no longer used for exclusive glassware only, but they became available for normal household glassware.The original glass paints were applicable by hand painting and new application techniques like spraying and screen printing were developed.The use of these paints flourished but soon some major drawbacks showed up. The high firing temperature made these furniture powder coatings for glass, due to rising energy costs, expensive.Strengthening environmental rules limited the use of these paints further, since the colors originate from metal oxides.(Some metal oxides are very bad for the environment and health.) Organic CoatingsWith the development of the Chemical Industry after WWII, a huge variety of organic colors became available and based on these organic colors new paints, also for glass, were developed.These organic glass paints, based on resins, had an almost infinite range of colors and the glass coatings could be cured at low temperatures. The absence of metal oxides made them the environmental friendly alternative of the available coatings for glass and so a glorious future lay ahead.
