Swindon Etched Glass

Leadbitter Glass was established in 1994 and over the years has supplied many Swindon homes with Etched Glass and Victorian Etched Glass Panels. Etched Glass is one of the oldest forms of decorative glass yet it is increasingly used to produce stunning contemporary decorative glass panels. Many homes in Swindon contain beautiful Etched Glass panels along with upscale commercial buildings. We also provide free delivery to homes in the area for almost all panels we produce.

Our studio also provides Stained Glass, Bevelled Glass and Fused Glass to clients in Swindon.

When placing an order with us, you will receive our free design service – known as the Client Pages Service. This is a great way to see how your bespoke etched glass panels will look before they are actually produced. This enables you to 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 glass will look with your chosen design customised to fit your 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 perfect choice for house names and numbers for door glass and fanlights. Many Swindon 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 matching glass for the door 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, head on over to our vast 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. Our etched glass is produced by sandblasting the glass so it is permanent and of the highest quality. Some companies appear to offer “Etched Glass” but they actually just put a vinyl sticker onto the glass so no ‘etching’ has actually taken place. These stickers can turn yellow over time and vinyl also shrinks 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 quality ‘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 will then apply a protective sandblast coating to the etched side. 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 Swindon area:

Bristol – Reading – Gloucester – Cheltenham – Bath – Stroud – Cirencester – Chippenham – Marlborough – Melksham – Devizes – Trowbridge – Warminster – Salisbury – Amesbury – Andover – Hungerford – Newbury – Wantage – Oxford