This unfinished engraving by Robert Page of The Guild Of Glass Engravers is of a speedboat on an optical glass block.
The trouble with engraving houses, cars or any other object that has glass windows in it is that you have to engrave a piece of glass so that it looks like a piece of glass. Sounds simple when you say it back to yourself but then when you think about doing it, not so easily done.
It's no good just leaving that bit of the engraving unengraved because it will look as though there is no window there and will look very odd. Experiment with this and you'll see what I mean.
The trick is to use an Arkansas stone burr to lightly mark the glass then use a grey polisher or even better a black silicone wheel, to obliterate all but the faintest of marks. Rob say's:
"I found that my RW22 would not do the job but those black rubber wheels you sold me were much better"
Black Silicone Polishers. Wheel shaped
The finish to the windows is still not quite right, they look like they need a good clean. So, Rob has gone away to achieve the finished look with a Bullet shaped Grey Rubber Silicone Polisher. More on this in Part 2 with the finished engraving.
Grey Rubber Bullet Silicone Polisher
Rob is a council member of The Guild Of Glass Engravers. He mainly engraves using the drill technique but uses sand blasting occasionally. To see more of his work visit The Guild of Glass Engravers
