Gateshead Etched Glass

Leadbitter Glass was first established in 1994 and has produced Etched Glass and Victorian Etched Glass panels for homes in Gateshead ever since. Etched Glass was one of the earliest forms of decorative glass to be developed, yet today, it is often used to produce elegant contemporary designs. Etched panels are a popular choice for homes in the area as well as being used for upscale commercial buildings. Almost all panels our glass studio produces qualify for free delivery to homes in Gateshead.

We also produce Stained Glass, Bevelled Glass and Fused Glass to clients in Gateshead.

After placing your order with us, you’ll receive our free design service – known as the Client Pages Service. This is where we create a Computer Generated Proof to show your chosen design in your custom glass sizes. You will receive this proof a few days after ordering. You can then request changes to the design before the panel is produced, ensuring you get exactly what you want. You may want to alter a decorative border, add some extra butterflies or increase the size of a house name. We’ll make these amendments until you are 100% happy with the final design, then you can give our glass artists the thumbs up to begin production.

Your numbers up!

If you would like to display your house name or number in door glass or a fanlight, etched panels are an excellent choice. Many homes in the Gateshead area have top lights (transom lights) above their doors, the ideal place to display your elegant etched house name or number. These panels are very popular among our customers, hundreds of them are produced by our glass artists every year! If you have a transom window above your door, we can create a stunning etched glass panel displaying your house name or number using any font and decorative border you choose. We can also create etched door glass to match the fanlights if required.

Browse Our Etched Glass Galleries

Almost any pattern can be produced by our expert glass artists in etched glass. If you’re struggling to find the right design for your home, head over to our extensive Etched Glass Gallery for some inspiration. Within the gallery, there are sub-categories such as Traditional, The Edinburgh Range and Repeat Backgrounds, Modern, Victorian and many others. We have countless other stunning designs in all forms of decorative glass across our various galleries which may also be of interest to you.

How is Etched Glass made?

We never use ‘stickers’ on our etched glass panels. Our etched glass is produced the right way, by sandblasting the glass so the etching is permanent and of the highest quality. Often, companies will say they offer “Etched Glass” when actually they don’t. They simply place a vinyl sticker onto the glass, so no ‘etching’ has actually taken place. Not only does this result in a poor fake ‘etched effect’, but the stickers can turn yellow and even start to shrink on the panel after being exposed to sunlight for a few years. Companies may also state that their etched glass is ‘screen printed’, this however also suffers from the same discolouration issue over time. You should always make sure you are paying for an authentic ‘sandblasted‘ etched glass product for quality that lasts. You can see the problems encountered with fake etched glass here.

Our process

First, we cut a temporary mask to match your chosen pattern and overlay it onto one side of the panel. This ensures the areas we want to remain clear don’t get etched. We then place the masked panel inside a specialist sandblasting booth while coarse grit/sand is fired at high speed across the panel. Once the etching process is complete, the temporary mask is removed and the areas that were unprotected have now been etched. If the glass is single glazed, we then apply a protective sandblast coating to the etched side to prevent unwanted grease smudges. If the glass is to be double glazed, the coating doesn’t need to be applied because the etched side will be protected within the unit.

Etched glass supplied to any home throughout the Gateshead area:

Newcastle Upon Tyne – Sunderland – South Shields – Tynemouth – Wallsend – Whickham – Blaydon-on-Tyne – Hebburn – Jarrow – Felling – Ryton – Dunston – Birtley – Pelaw – Lobley Hill – Wardley – Wrekenton – Heworth – Sheriff Hill – Windy Nook