One
of the great things about Etched Glass is the amount of
light the glass still allows to enter the room. Other forms
of decorative glass may have coloured sections or lead
strip as part of the design and these products can tone
down a small amount of the natural light. Etched glass
is pure glass without any of these extra materials so the
light coming through the glass is not obstructed in any
way.
Etched
Glass - a perfect choice for bathroom doors!
A very popular request we receive is for etched glass
bathroom door panels but one of the main concerns voiced
by the client is the need for absolutely no clear sections
in the design.
As explained above, under normal circumstances etched
glass is created by leaving some of the design clear
and the background of the design being etched. As you
can appreciate this form of glass isn't perfect for bathrooms,
toilets and en suites so we use Satin
Glass for its excellent
privacy qualities. The Satin glass gives an almost 'etched
glass' look and once the design is etched onto
the back of the Satin glass, the design can still be
clearly viewed without the need to have clear areas in
the glass
panel.
This panel was created for a customer that wanted a design
to match with their new bathroom tiles. the client emailed
a photo of their new tiles and we designed 3
options for the customer to
view and this was the design they chose. The client was
a little concerned about how well they would be able
to see the pattern once it was etched onto the Satin
glass but as you can see, the design is vivid and works
well in conjunction with this privacy glass.
We can supply these type of etched glass panels for bathrooms
in 4mm toughened glass or 6mm toughened glass. As this
type off order is almost always a single glazed piece
of glass,
we would
protect
the
etched
areas
of
the design with our Sandblast Protection product which
eliminates greasy finger marks appearing in the etched
areas.
Perfect for numbers and names!!
Etched glass is an ideal form of decorative
glass for text
and numbers on door glass and in the panels above the
doors. One of the most common
requests that
Leadbitter
Glass
receives
is for etched numbers on or above front doors. If your
home has a top light above the door, we can create a
panel with
your house number or name in etched glass.
Click the glass on the left to view some of our standard
'Door Top Lite' options with numbers and names.
This design was actually created using glass with a bevelled
edge around the outside and the panel was installed into
a renovated home in the Kent area. The panel was single
glazed so again it was protected with our sandblast Protection
product.
Many
standard designs ready and waiting!
Leadbitter Glass can create any design for you in etched
glass but if you aren't too sure what type of design
suits you or blends in perfectly with your home, why not
take a look at our vast Etched
Glass gallery.
We have over 100 designs suitable for doors and
windows and there are many etched glass categories to choose
from such as Wildlife,
Modern, Victorian and much more. Click the image on the
right to visit the Etched Glass gallery now.
Gradient Sandblast Shading
Leadbitter Glass can now offer 'Automatic Gradient Sandblasting' or shaded sandblasting as it is otherwise known. This new technique gives our etched glass even more possibilities. The photo on the right shows the effect that this new technique gives and if you look at the bottom of the glass you will notice that it is fully sandblasted. As your eyes travel up the glass you can see that the glass gradually becomes fully clear.
This great new technique is almost impossible to create with a manual system but our studio recently added a new automatic machine especially for creating gradient sandblasted glass.
Sandblast shading is an ideal product for showers or wetroom enclosures where the bottom half of the glass is best suited to being opaque, but the top half of the glass needs to be clear glass. Office partitions, commercial windows and doors are other locations that could benefit from shaded sandblasting to aid privacy in the required locations.
The design below shows the etched areas with a gradient shading
How
is Etched Glass created?
Etched glass is an excellent decorative glass product
and it is ideal for traditional door designs and even modern contemporary projects.
This classic style of art glass gives a truly amazing effect without taking a
minimal amount (if any)
of the natural light.
A quick 
explanation
as to how etched glass is made would be to sum it up like this
-
" a
clear sheet of glass is covered in some areas with a mask,
then the bare areas of the glass are scratched which creates a pattern once the
protected areas
are peeled back"
In more detail - A decorative design, a repeating pattern or
even numbers and words are designed on computer software for each individual
job. Once the layout has been created around the customers glass size, the design
is then sent from the computer to a computer mask cutter to automatically cut
out the chosen artwork. The design is then carved into a sheet of vinyl which
is the laid over the whole area of the clients glass.
By studying the design required, the areas that need to be etched are peeled
away from the glass and left exposed. The glass is then placed into an automatic
sandblasting machine that shoots a fine abrasive material onto the whole area
of the glass panel. Once the sandblasting process is finished the glass is removed
from the machine and the glass is cleaned down.
The masked (protected) areas that were left on the glass are then carefully peeled
away from the glass leaving these protected areas clear and unmarked. In this
photo you can see the mask being removed from the glass after blasting and you
can also see the 'blasted' areas that appear a light grey colour. These sections
are the etched areas of the glass design and once the whole mask is fully removed
the clear areas and the 'blasted' areas come together to create
a
beautiful
etched glass piece.
See some of our recent Etched Glass
commissions:
over the UK. This section of the website
explains in detail how etched glass is made and you can also read about and view some
applications for Etched Glass that you may not have been aware of.