If you are thinking of presenting glass trophies and awards, you will often find that getting one made of glass will be an advantage. Most well-made glass awards tend to be very elegant, and this means that the people getting them are likely to be appreciated more. This is particularly so if they are etched to make them personalized. The process of etching has become cheaper these days, which means that you can easily get custom made awards without having to spend a lot of money on them.
If you are thinking of doing this, it would be important for you to have a basic understanding of some of the technologies used to etch glass. The reason for this is that the different methods have different results, and should therefore be taken into consideration if you intend to get a specific look in the awards. Most award vendors will be happy to take you through some of the basic ways in which the etching is done including:
Surface etching
This is a method of etching in which the glass is disrupted to an even depth throughout. To do this, processes such as sandblasting or the use of certain chemicals is employed to essentially scratch the surface of the glass. Once it’s done, the etched parts of the glass tend to look white, while the rest of the glass is left untouched. Since it’s a very simple process, this is one of the commonest methods of etching glass. It’s cheap and does not require as much specialized labor as the other types of etching. It is ideal for the creation of simple patterns on the glass, such as the name of an employee or a simple two-dimensional image such as a company logo. Despite the fact that this form of etching is simple, it’s important to get it done by a professional, since they tend to be better at creating more appealing results.
Carving
This is a more advanced method of etching. It involves excavating the surface of the glass to a greater depth than when you use surface etching. There are several methods of doing this including one-stage carving, two-stage carving and freehand carving. In the single stage process, the surface of the glass is sand blasted to a great depth, and the various patterns needed are made by separating the different elements by varying degrees.
In two-stage carving, pieces of glass that are not needed are removed in a sequential manner. This makes it possible to come up with 3D images on the surface of the glass. Normally, the carving is done on the side opposite to which the image will be seen. This means that if you pass your hands over the image, the fact that the glass will have been undisturbed means that it will feel smooth despite having a three dimensional appearance.
Freehand carving is usually considered to be the most technically difficult methods of carving. It involves using a blaster to create the image desired by hand. The quality of the outcome depends on the skill of the operator. The designs that are made by hand can be more intricate than the rest, and tend to be more expensive as well.
Shading
This can be considered to be an advanced way of surfaced etching. It involves scratching the surface of the glass to a specific depth. However, the only difference is that while surface etching results in uniform opacity, the opacity of the shading process can be manipulated. This means that you will end up with some areas that have been shaded and which are lighter than others. This method of etching is often considered to be similar to airbrushing.
Combinations
When you are ordering award design, you don’t need to stick to only one of the above. You can request that a combination of methods be used to come up with the final design you are interested in.
In summary, there are many ways to design awards for any reason. If you are thinking of doing this, it would be wise to find out which methods suits you best, so that you can then ask your vendor to design your awards using that method. If you are doing this for the first time, a good way to get this information would be to go through some pictures that show how the different etching methods look like, and the effects that they can achieve. If you are working with a high quality award design company, you can even ask them for a portfolio of their previous works, and then use this as the basis to make the decision on which style to use. This way, finding the ideal award design will be easy and probably fun. It will also be cheaper than using trial and error to find one.
