Tea Staining Alternatives

After Application	Washed & Scrubbed	Product Used	Comments
		Lipton Tea	This is the method I used. This method was reported to be permanent after 3 months, but it wasn't. Thinking that I had somehow done something wrong, I wrote to Sharon Peters. Click here to read what she had to say. Thank you Sharon!!!
	No Change	Bullseye Frit	I dipped the hot bead into the powder and then melted it in the flame 3 times. I didn't think much of this one till after I etched it. The etched side is the closest I came to the look of tea staining. If a lighter shade is wanted, just dip and heat fewer times. Etching was done as the last step. If you like this one, you have the owner of Forestheart Studio to thank for coming up with it.
		Paradise Paint Brown	Deborah at Dread Designs was kind enough to let us use this guy. Thanks!
	No Change	"1 SHOT"® Lettering Enamel	This oil based opaque enamel has excellent coverage on glass. It needs 30 days or so to reach it's maximum hardness.
	No Change	Pebeo Vitrea 160	This translucent paint needs to be dried in the oven at 325º F for 40 min.
	No Change	Delta PermEnamel	Top half is etched. Requires preconditioning and after application of paint, 1 week before washing.
	No Change	Effetre Amber Frit Trial 1	I decided to play around a bit and make my own powder from Moretti Dk. Topaz rods. I wasn't very pleased with the results - the look is too granular. Perhaps I'll regrind it and try again later or perhaps grind up a lighter colored rod.
	No Change	Effetre Amber Frit Trial 2	I reground the powder directly above into a finer powder and tried it again. I still don't care for the way it turned out. Of course, if you're going for the look of mud, this may be just what you're looking for. Next I'll try a lighter color of Moretti Topaz. I didn't even bother to etch this one.
	No Change	Effetre Amber Frit Trial 3	Decided to buy the lighter frit/powder instead of making my own. I had to heat the bead so much to melt in the frit that I lost all the detail in the cat face. As above, I didn't bother to etch this one.
		Top half is Minwax Wood Finish Bottom half is Tandy's Leather Glow
		Minwax Wood Finish Touch-up Marker
		Rub & Buff
		Painters Metallic Marker
		Kiwi Paste Shoe Polish
		Kiwi Cream Shoe Polish
		Fingernail Polish	This was the only Nail polish I could find that looked dark brown. As you can see, looks can be deceiving.
	No Change	Sculpey III
		Pearl-Ex	Etching was done as the last step.
	No Change	Thompson Enamel	Etching was done as the last step.
	No Change	Copper Ruby Reduction Frit Powder	Etching was done as the last step. The frit was not reduced.
		Gallery Glass Window Color
		Liquitex Concentrated Artist Color - Acrylic
		Sharpie Gold Marker
		Testors Model Paint Enamel
		Painters Enamel Marker
		Folgers Coffee	Treated this one exactly like the Tea.
		PaperMate Permanent Marker	This bead broke and the darkest area on the washed bead is where the ink stuck to the glue.
		Rit Fabric Dye	The color washed away as soon as it hit the water. This bead also broke the only color that remained was what was stuck to the glue.
		Walnut Ink	Ink does not want to stick to the unetched side. If you click on the picture to view the larger image, you can see areas on the right side where the ink pulled away. As predicted, the color washed away as soon as it hit the water.
		Sharpie Brown Marker
		Liquid Leaf
		Easter Egg Dye	The color washed away as soon as it hit the water.
		Embossing Powder
		Higgins Permanent Black Ink
	No Change	Duncan Ceramic Glaze	The glaze should have turned out the color of the inside of a bean pot. The dark areas of the bead show about the best you can do with a ceramic glaze. The temperature required for the glaze is higher than the melting temperature of the base glass. Etching was done as the last step.