Watford Etched Glass

The Leadbitter Glass Studio was established in 1994 and it has supplied Watford homes with Etched Glass and Victorian Etched Glass Panels for many years. Etched Glass is one of the oldest forms of decorative glass, or ‘art glass’, but is increasingly used to produce stunning contemporary decorative glass panels. Many Watford Homes contain Etched Glass along with 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 Watford.

When you place an order with us, you will receive our free design service – known as the Client Pages Service. This service is a great way to view how your bespoke etched glass panels will look before they are actually created. 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 the design in your sizes. You may want a decorative border moving slightly, a few extra leaves adding or the size of a house number increasing. We will make your adjustments until you are 100% happy with the design and give us the thumbs up to proceed with production.

Your numbers up!

Etched glass is the perfect choice for house names and numbers, for door glass and fanlights. Many Watford 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 so it is one of the most popular requests of our clients. If your home has a transom window above the door, we can create the 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 struggling to find the right design, head on over to our extensive Etched Glass Gallery for some inspiration. We have thousands of amazing decorative glass patterns that are perfect for both doors and windows. There are many etched glass categories to browse, such as Traditional, The Edinburgh Range and Repeat Backgrounds, Modern, Victorian and much more.

How is Etched Glass made?

We do not use ‘stickers’ for our etched glass panels. The etched glass we create is produced by sandblasting the glass so it is permanent. Some companies appear to offer “Etched Glass” but actually just put a vinyl sticker onto the glass so no etching has actually taken place. These stickers can ‘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 and this causes the same discolouration issue over time. Always make sure you are paying for a genuine ‘sandblasted’ etched glass product because 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 removed from the glass. The stencilled glass is then inserted into a sandblasting booth and coarse grit/sand is then fired at high speed over 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 apply a protective sandblast coating to the etched side. If the glass is to be double glazed, we do not add the coating because the etched side would be sealed within the unit.

Etched glass supplied to any home throughout the Watford area:

Hemel Hempstead – St Albans – Bushey – Rickmansworth – Abbots Langley – Kings Langley – Leavesden – South Oxhey – Croxley Green – Bricket Wood – Radlett – Aldenham – Garston – Bedmond – Nascot Wood – Oxhey Hall – Carpenders Park – North Watford – Meriden – Woodside