Copper Ruby Smalts Standard Size - Transp.

Copper Ruby Smalts Standard Size, 1 Pound Bag. Transparent. Standard grains run 1–2.4mm — about sesame-seed size — for a fine, even sparkle. Colored glass smalt made for smalted sign backgrounds — the crushed-glass aggregate that sign painters also call smaltz, smalting glass, or osmalto. It is sprinkled into wet smalt-cream paint to build a textured, light-catching background the old-world way.

Copper Ruby is a translucent warm ruby red with coppery undertones. Red smalts are the classic high-visibility choice — fire departments, barns, and roadside signs lean on red to read at a distance. A softer red for wine, brick, and heritage palettes. Copper Ruby lays down smooth and even — the choice for fine lettering and detailed panels.

Because the color is trapped in the glass as it is made, it carries extra ultraviolet protection from the sun — it will not fade or chalk out the way paint alone does. The result is a sparkling smalted background that endures at a true craftsman level.

How much smalt will I need? Typically 1 pound of smalt will cover 1 to 1 1/2 square feet of area depending on how thick you apply it.

How To Smalts Signs - A Smaltz Tutorial

1. Mask off the sign area you're smalting with 1/8" sandblast mask.
2. Pick a paint color that matches your smalt color best.
3. Use Gilders Smalt Cream or Smiths Cream and mix 50/50 with oil based enamels such as One Shot sign painters enamel or japan oil colors.
4. Fill the exposed areas to be smalted with 1/8" of enamel.
5. Let the mixed Smalt Cream and paint stand and level for 1/2 hour. Temperatures and drying times may vary — always make a sample piece and record cure times.
6. Apply smalt to the background by sprinkling over the wet paint in light amounts, then repeat as if spraying on. Don't pour on all the smalt at once; make several passes, allowing time for the smalt to sink into the smalt cream paint mix.
7. Smalted areas should set and level for 15–30 minutes, then if wet areas are still visible, sprinkle on more smalt until completely covered.
8. Leave the Smalt Cream paint mixture alone until cured and dry completely. Typical smalt cure times are 24–48 hours, some taking 1 week. Make a tester panel to check dry time.
9. Once you're sure the smalt is dry, lift the smalted panel and dump off the excess, lightly patting the backside. If the smalt is dry it will hold; if wet it will fall off in big chunks which cannot be repaired.
10. Remove any masked areas carefully, then lift the sign, pat lightly, and clean up. Smalted signs tend to lose small amounts of smalt even during installation — avoid cuts; the smalted surface is sharp.

Letterhead Sign Supply stocks the creams made for smalting — Jacks Cream and Smiths Cream (see Related Products below) — plus this color's companion grain size and the full smalt color line.

Also searched as: copper-ruby, red smalts, smaltz, smalting glass, osmalto, smalted sign backgrounds, crushed colored glass.