So I just tried my first glass piece and it wasn’t anything like I expected.
The first thing I noticed while it was engraving it looked like the frosted etches came off the glass. ‽ Sure enough, that’s what happened. I could scrape the frosted areas off with my fingernail.
The second thing I noticed is the interesting font I used was too detailed for the glass.
Interesting…
Yeah, thermal shock fractures the glass. I had thought of playing with something like transparent pigments that would be drawn into the fractures to color it and maybe glue in the pieces.
I haven’t experimented much with glass, but I wonder if less power wouldn’t have a better effect, like smaller more shallow fractures.
I’ve done about a dozen or so glass etching on stained glass. For etching glass I found that 400 speed and full power is good. If it has a wider area to etch then it will just flake off(especially if you use a masking) or even crack the glass. Small etches or with very clear line work is the best.
