Thursday 24 May 2012


My next blog is taking you through how we engrave a picture onto one of our lead crystal items.

 Pretty simple process people may think. 

Read on and then tell us your verdict after.

Stage One - The blank glass 

We have used a champagne glass to show how we do this process. The "blank" glass is cut by our Alan, who you met in our first blog. Our order form will tell Alan to leave a panel, so he cuts it, leaves the panel and then sends it through to the engraving department.



Stage Two - The artwork bit

David, our engraver will then do his magic of creating the artwork using Paintshop/ Photoshop on his computer. He prints it out onto vellum paper, and then a photo-resist film is developed by passing ultra violet light through the vellum and this then transfers the image onto the film. Below is the art work prior to going through the ultra violet phase.




The picture below is of the machine that David uses to transfer the image onto the film. This process can take up to 15 mins. Once this process is complete, and the film has dried, it is then transferred onto the cut glass ready for stage three.




Stage Three - Sandblasting

Here is our sandblasting machine, it's a fierce piece of machinery! A fine white aluminium oxide power is used to blast the areas on the film in order to create the desired image. David will know when this image on the glass is adequate.


If you look closely in the picture below you can see the purple photo-resist film and the fine powder being aimed directly at the image. This is very tricky as you can over blast the glass with the powder and the film will dissolve and the image will not transfer correctly. Once David is satisfied with this process, the film is then washed off leaving the glass with the picture on the champagne glass.



Stage Four - The Dragon Assay Mark

Once the glass is clean and dry and all traces of the powder and film removed, the glass then goes for it's stamp of quality, our much talked about dragon assay mark. This is similar to the sandblasting phase, and a tiny picture of our dragon is blasted onto the base of the champagne glass. Here is the machine that we do this with. 



Here is our little dragon assay mark showing the sign of quality, and our customers will know that is was made in our workshop. We love our Welsh Dragon!




Stage Five - Into the shop

The glass then receives our green Welsh Royal Crystal sticker and it goes into the shop or out for packing and distribution.




So that is how the "simple" part of engraving is done here at Welsh Royal Crystal. Not as easy as it sounds hey!

Engraving is a huge part of our business, from engraving a personal message, picture or company logo on a purchased lead crystal item, to engraving crystal sports awards and trophies. The Royal Wedding Gift from the people of Wales went through this very process, as a personal message was engraved onto it for William and Kate.

If you have any questions relating to this blog, please drop us an email, or leave your enquiry below and we will be happy to answer.

www.welshroyalcrystal.co.uk

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