Swansea Etched Glass
Leadbitter Glass was established in 1994 and has supplied homes throughout Swansea with Etched Glass and Victorian Etched Glass Panels over the years. Etched Glass is one of the oldest forms of decorative glass yet it is increasingly used to produce stunning modern decorative glass panels. Hundreds of homes in Swansea contain stunning Etched Glass panels along with upscale commercial buildings. We also provide free delivery to the area for almost all panels we produce.
Our studio also provides Stained Glass, Bevelled Glass and Fused Glass to clients in Swansea.
When you place an order with us, you will receive our free design service – known as the Client Pages Service. This allows you to see how your bespoke etched glass panels will look before they are actually produced. You can then request design changes before we actually begin work on your panel(s). A few days after ordering, you will receive a Computer Generated Image of how your panel(s) will look with your selected design customised to fit your glass sizes. You may want a decorative border adjusting slightly, a few extra leaves adding or the size of a house number increasing. We’ll make your amendments until you are 100% happy with the design and give us the thumbs up to begin production.
Your numbers up!
Etched glass is the choice of many for house names and numbers for door glass and fanlights. Many Swansea homes have top lights (transom lights) above the door and this is the perfect place to elegantly display your house name or number. We create hundreds of house names and numbers every year making it one of the most popular requests from our clients. If your home has a transom window above the door, we can create your house number or name in any font you choose and you can even select a decorative border. We can also create door glass to match if required.
Browse Our Etched Glass Galleries
Our studio can create almost any pattern in etched glass, but if you’re having trouble finding the right design, you can head on over to our extensive Etched Glass Gallery for some inspiration. We have thousands of stunning decorative glass designs to choose from which are perfect for both doors and windows. The etched glass gallery contains categories such as Traditional, The Edinburgh Range and Repeat Backgrounds, Modern, Victorian and much more.
How is Etched Glass made?
We never use ‘stickers’ for our etched glass panels. All of our etched glass is produced by sandblasting the glass creating a permanent finish of the highest quality. Some companies appear to offer “Etched Glass” when they really just put a vinyl sticker onto the glass so no ‘etching’ has actually taken place. These vinyl stickers turn yellow over time and can also shrink after being exposed to sunlight for a few years. Other companies may even screen print the ‘Etched Glass Effect’ onto the glass which causes exactly the same discolouration issue over time. Always make sure you are paying for a genuine ‘sandblasted‘ etched glass product to avoid disappointment, as the saying goes – “Buy cheap, buy twice”. You can see the aftermath here of ordering fake etched glass.
The process
A temporary mask is ‘cut to shape’ and overlaid onto one side of the glass. The areas of the pattern that require etching are then removed from the panel. The stencilled glass is then inserted into a sandblasting booth and coarse grit/sand is fired at high speed across the design. Once the etching process is complete and an even finish has been achieved, the temporary mask is removed, leaving the protected areas clear with the unprotected areas etched. For single glazed glass, we then apply a protective sandblast coating to the etched side of the panel. 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.
