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Blog posts of '2013' 'June'

The Art of Sandblasting
The Art of Sandblasting

Ever wonder how artwork is reproduced on glass with such close precision and depth?  Engraving glass is a skillful craft and the industry gold standard is a process called sandblasting.

 

The term sandblasting is actually quite descriptive of the process itself.  It involves a mixture of air and an abrasive material which is blown at a high velocity toward the material.  The abrasive then etches or cuts away the material surface.  Here at EDCO Awards & Specialties we utilize the sandblasting process for decorating glass and crystal recognition awards as well as engraving on marble and metal trophy components.

 

Sandblasting has many applications.  Aside from engraving crystal trophies, it is frequently used in the auto industry to remove rust from metal parts and burrs from castings.  Dentists also use a form of sandblasting in production of crowns and bridges to roughen surfaces so cement or porcelain can attach easier.  In the sign business, it is used to decorate messages on a wide variety of products.

 

Sandblasting items such as glassware is a straightforward process. First you adhere a stencil to the item to be blasted.  A stencil is a mask containing cutout areas of the design and message.  Stencils are commonly made from vinyl, rubber or in our case a photoresist film.  When engraving glass or crystal we use photoresist, a film that is photographically exposed and processed.  Usually black and white artwork is used in the photographic process where a negative is used to selectively allow light to pass through and develop the stencil.  The non exposed areas "resist" the stream of sand while reproducing an image on the crystal surface.  

 

When the stencil is in place, a steady stream of abrasive particles, such as aluminum oxide, is aimed directly at the item.  The best abrasive varies with the material being blasted and the type of cut desired.  The abrasive particles cut those surface areas not covered by the stencil.  The etching process for "frosting" typically only takes a few seconds, but if depth is desired can take much longer.  Explore our glass awards and crystal awards collections to get a better idea of what sandblasting looks like on trophies.

Preparing A Gift Message Handbook

Three fraternity brothers stand at a counter in a trophy shop, discussing which recognition award to purchase for a new house sponsor.  After a store employee helps the three young men select a particular crystal award, he shows them a handbook that is opened to a page presenting layouts and messages specifically for crystal recognition awards.

 

Within a few minutes the young men decide that they particularly like a message and layout shown in the handbook.  With little difficulty, the employee substitutes the recipient's name, the date, the fraternity name, etc, for the information displayed in the handbook.  In less time than they expected, the young men selected a gift with a message that they know the recipient will appreciate.

 

In this example, a gift message handbook helped both the customers and the employee. EDCO Awards & Specialties offers an "idea book" called the Inscription Guide.  We created this guide to help our customers develop great sounding messages to be engraved on our awards, as well as our sales representatives who always strive to create great looking and sounding awards!

While checking out our Inscription Guide, be sure to explore our brand new selection of Employee Recognition Awards.  Recognition awards show appreciation and can help develop positive feelings about the company also improving employee morale and performance at the office.  Start building your awards program today by checking out our beautiful awards selection.  Motivate your staff with our featured awards;  Featured awards are our brand new designs just released for June 2013 and include the Together Recognition AwardTeamwork Art Glass, the Dedication Award and the Teamwork Recognition Award.  All awards are produced from optical crystal and deep engraved with precision craftsmanship.  Your congratulatory message will look amazingly beautiful on any of these high end designs. We ship to the entire U.S. and all awards include a premium quality presentation box.

 

If you have any questions please call one of our friendly Recognition Specialists today at 800-377-8646.

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