Make very thin FROSTED glass or acrylic pendant from trans. to opaque

Beth Meredith
by Beth Meredith
I have a brand new Victorian style hanging pendant light that allows the interior electrical hardware to show thru. I'd like a suggestion of how to make it opaque. Keep in mind the heat from the three bulbs.

  4 answers
  • Roxaneg Roxaneg on Oct 14, 2017

    IF the glass can be removed from frames, the best fix is to go to a local stained glass store and have them cut new panes of an opaque glass of your choice.


    The other choice is a paint such as Krylon's glass paint. You could also try Unicorn spit to glaze the glass. There are glass enamel paint that is set with heat, but if there is a small crack or any stress in the glass, you might actually end up breaking the glass.


    Unless you need to keep the bulbs for the look, like Edison bulbs, you might consider LED bulbs; they are going to save you money and they don't generate a great deal of heat. Then you can paint the glass with something like acrylic paint and get away with it without "cooking" the paint.

  • Kim Kim on Oct 14, 2017

    I used to etch glass with stuff from Michaels. It would make your glass frosted.

    I am sorry I don’t remember what it was called but any craft store should have something comparable.

    A glass shop (as in mirrors and windows) might also be able to help! They might be able to etch it for you without all the muss & fuss!

    : )

  • Roxaneg Roxaneg on Oct 14, 2017

    You can etch the glass with ArmourEtch, but that is permanent. And you have to be very careful with it and apply it evenly over the surface. It can also be re-used, so if there is a great deal of glass, you might only need to invest in one bottle or so.

  • Linda Sikut Linda Sikut on Oct 14, 2017

    If you change to LED lights, you could definitely use Plaid Gallery Glass Paint and make your own design, if you want. If you really get into it, you can also get the leading that the craft stores have with the paint. You could make it look like a stained glass fixture with a design you like or even geometric shapes like triangles in different colors.


    Call ahead to make sure they have it though. I usually go to AC Moore because it's the closest, but they didn't have many colors. It looked like they had sold a lot but hadn't restocked. At the next closest craft store to me is Hobby Lobby and they had a much larger selection. (Be sure to look for their coupons in the Sunday paper or via email.)


    Also it's available at Amazon.com and https://plaidonline.com/brands/gallery-glass Writing about this is getting me all excited to do this for our outside lights! No I can't. Not yet. I have to many projects that will take quite a while to finish and I HAVE & WANT to get them DONE first. LOL

    • Beth Meredith Beth Meredith on Oct 14, 2017

      Thank you! I am only wanting white as the shade itself is designed (Neoclassical). I'll check into the LED. Good luck with the projects...I understand!