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What
is Sandcarving?
In short, sandcarving or glass
etching is a method of decorating or personalizing glass, crystal,
marble, stone, and the like. Sandcarving, often referred to as "sandblasting"
has been used for many decades in the decorative and architectural industries.
Stencils for this industry began with designing, tracing, and then hand
cutting or machine plotting in order to produce the image being engraved.
Photo resist technology was first introduced into the market in the early
1980's. The ability to create stencils photographically instead of manually
began to revolutionize the sandcarving industry. Now businesses could
create their own sandcarving stencils in just a fraction of the time it
used to take. Although photo resist film often costs more than traditional
hand cut vinyl and rubber mask materials, the labor and skill involved
with hand cutting cannot compare to photographically reproduced images
able to hold much finer detail.
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How is it Achieved?
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Sandcarving is achieved by propelling
abrasive (usually aluminum oxide) onto a surface (usually glass) under
compressed air. Wherever the abrasive contacts its surface, it roughens
and subsequently erodes the surface it comes in contact with. When used
with a photomask (a.k.a. a photo resist mask or photo resist stencil)
sandcarving can quickly and effectively reproduce a wide range of
personalization, designs, and logos on numerous surfaces with phenomenal
detail.
Industries Utilizing Sandcarved Products:
| Ad Specialty |
Stained Glass |
| Trophies
& Awards |
Glass
Blowers |
| Engravers |
Architectural Glass |
| Signage |
Restoration |
| Monuments |
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Why is Sandcarving
so Unique?
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addition to consistency and detail, sandcarving with a photo resist can
create simple to complex multi-stage carvings in just minutes. Simply
remove different portions of the photo resist one after the other to carve
a beautiful, three dimensional effect. Alternatives such as acid etching,
hand cutting, engraving tools, diamond cutting, wheel cutting, and laser
engraving are either limited in depth, time consuming, expensive, require
much skill on the part of the engraver or all of the above. In contrast,
with just a minimal investment of time and money, the look and feel of
sandcarving offers a much higher perceived value to similar items engraved
by these other methods. Becoming increasingly more popular each year,
sandcarved glass, crystal, marble, granite gifts, trophies and awards are
quickly replacing the demand for wood, metal, and other engraved products.
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