DIY Glue Chipped Glass

While looking on the interweb for art deco style inspiration I came across a video that immediately caught my eye. Paul from Happy Gilder has an amazing YouTube channel and does various glue chipping, acid etching, gold leaf, etc. work and it is beautiful. He claimed that anyone can do it...so here I go.

Plate Glass (apparently tempered doesn't work so well)

Glass cleaner

Hide glue aka chip glue aka Pearl glue

Water

Stir stick

Extra bottle(s) to soak/melt your glue

Pot of water to aid in controlling the glue melt process

An applicator bottle/container, preferably with a small spout (like a hair dye bottle)

Thermometer

Rotary tool or a ton of sand paper and patience

Masking material, i.e. vinyl, tape, I used contact paper

heat source

Small bladed knife like an X-acto

Tweezers

Fan

Enclosure to house your glass

Painters tape

Gold Mirror & Black spray paint (or mirror glass, Silver, Bronze spray paint)

A frame

First off, let me preface my project by saying that if you are interested in this style of craft, go check out your options for materials for this process. Having just discovered this glue chipped glass thing, I will be going the safe route.

Depending on how excited or "All in" you are will help you decide what materials to buy. For example gold leaf versus spray paint, sand paper versus a sand blasting cabinet, or investing in a vinyl cutter, if you don't already own one.

I chose to make a relatively simple 'K' and in a vintage style font. I roughly sketched my K on the back of some contact paper (make sure you get your orientation correct, you may need to mirror your image) and cut out the part I intended to glue chip with an X-acto knife.

I will use a small piece of glass and carefully laid my contact paper on the freshly cleaned glass surface. Easier said than done. This is a fine skill in itself especially to minimize bubbles.

If you have a vinyl cutter or a Cricut or something, that is great. Another option would be to try a local or online signage store. They'll likely be able to cut your vinyl image for you and perhaps even create it if you need it in a vector image.

Next you need something for the hide glue to "stick to." Smooth glass will give you less than stellar results. The fastest & more uniform route will be to use a sand blaster but since I don't have one (and it would likely destroy your contact paper since vinyl is stronger), I used my rotary tool. Every part of the surface you want to be chipped you will have to rough up. You will need to take your time and not go super deep into the surface of the glass. Uniformity helps, trust me. Again, the sand blaster will help with a light sanding especially if using aluminum oxide or walnut shells.

Reading/Watching the process is different than doing it yourself but that could likely be said about a lot of things. You will need to soak & melt your glue. Start off by allowing water to soak in a ratio of 1:1.5 Glue:Water. It will go from crystals to stinky gooey balls in about 30 - 60 minutes but you can go to 2 hours depending on your hide glue supplier instructions.

Note: if you heat up your glue too hot or for too long you risk ruining the proteins that will fulfill it's gluey duty!

My first attempt of heating I did a double boiler set up where I place my gooey glue in a pot of water and gently heated it while monitoring the temperature with a "lollipop" probe to 125 - 135F for 5 minutes to align the glue proteins. Think of it like a double boiler for melting chocolate!

My second attempt of heating I used my sous vide to maintain my temperature of the water at precisely 135F. I understand not everyone is going to have a sous vide immersion circulator handy but I really enjoy cooking.

When you have runny glue, you can pour it into an applicator bottle for ease of transfer to your glass. No bottle? Just pour slowly and/or use a stick to apply it as evenly as you can (that it what I did bc my applicator bottle was too big and just settled in the bottom. No matter how hard I squeezed, there just wasn't enough to make it out the tip...).

You want to apply the glue relatively quickly to your surface in a thickness of ~1/8th inch (3 mm). Don't get a ruler or anything, just eyeball it. However, you don't want to go too thick as it will take forever to dry and too thin won't chip as well as you probably envision.

TIP: any leftover glue can be stored in the fridge until your next glue chip, properly labeled of course. You wouldn't want to spread it on your sandwich or anything.

Once the glue is applied, wait like 20 - 30 minutes for it to get tacky (it'll feel like Jell-O). Then go around the edges with a sharp sharp knife and remove the excess. If you leave the glue overlapping your mask, you risk seepage and chipping where you may not want it. Using tweezers or the edge of your blade will help remove the sticky unwanted portion of the glue.

The idea now is the glue adheres to the rough surface of the glass, "bites" in, dries, and upon doing so will chip off the glass (hence the name) in cool swirly patterns.

NOTE for pet owners: This is hide glue...like from an animal and if you have pets and hide glue goes flying off your glass and your pet eats it...bad bad news. The tasty smelling glue may be appetizing for your chihuahua but if there is glass attached, it could jack them up!

Another thing to note is that if you have sharp corners or thin areas (like the bottom right of my K), you may want to score your knife in to "draw" the glue to chip inward and not outward. This will reduce the chances of the chips breaking into your smooth areas and potentially ruining the look. Note I said reduce not prevent.

Leaving the glass to dry in a warm low humid environment is good. I read that ideally you are looking for 90 - 110F at 35% relative humidity. If you live on the Gulf of Mexico in summer, yeah it may be hot enough in the shed but at 100% humidity it will take forever to dry & properly chip out.

You can go laser focused and build a contraption but I did was I used an old 60W incandescent bulb, a fan, and an old drawer to hold my glass while it dried/chipped. My first attempt I left alone in the garage without the drawer/box thing and it did chip and looked cool but it took about a week (and I am impatient)! The drawer only went overnight and was nice because it maintained all the chips inside there and I have a cat. I didn't want her to chew glass like some kind of carnival act.

Now that the glue chipped off, I cut my contact paper that will leave a smooth accent around my K.

I then taped around the edges with painters tape and applied two coats of my gold mirror spray paint. I also protected the other side with paper just in case the wind was blowing wildly or something.

If you want to actually gild with traditional gold leaf, you will need a gelatin solution (called "size") for the leaf to adhere to your freshly chipped surface. You also need a squirrel brush and special knives/pads, a greasy head...I chose spray paint for now.

Once the gold paint was dry, I removed the mask (aka contact paper) and kind of freaked out. It looked so good as is but I wanted the K to "pop" a little more. I spray painted the back with black spray paint, again in two coats.

You could do the rest in mirror paint or simply start out with a mirror if you wanted to. Your creativity is endless.

Afterwards, I cleaned the front with glass cleaner and framed up my new "gilded" K. I chose to hang it over my bar as I thought it was appropriate and frankly, we need more stuff on our walls.

I really want to do this again with a larger piece of glass, an actual vinyl mask, and try to get it sand blasted for better uniformity.

I was a sucker for the Happy Gilder's Ink and Paint Club sign from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I love that movie and that era's aesthetic and that was motivation enough for me to attempt glue chipping/"gilding."

I hope you try this out and find a cool design, quote, or business in need of glue chipped signage! I feel like a bar or barber shop are businesses in need of this type of sign but that is just me :)

Check out my video for a quick reference.