Dartington Glass Etching 18/08/23

Dartington Crystal is known for its hand-etching by Nick Davey who is a Master Engraver. He can achieve a great level of detail within the etching.

The photo below is a commissioned piece for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Only 48 pieces were produced and these sold out before the games had even started.

what I find fascinating about this design is how the etching is done on both the back and front of the glass. This gives a three-dimensional perspective as the infamous London landmark (Big Ben) is in the background whilst the Olympic Rings are in front. The shape of the glass means that it has an interesting perspective.

Having the etching going all around the glass works in some cases and not in others. With the leaves and vines, it works really well as the vines overlap giving the three-dimensional view. However, this would not work so well with text and some detailed illustrations as there would be too much going on meaning the important elements would be lost.

Nick Davey has a workspace set up in the view of the public who visit Dartington Crystal. This allows people to see how he etches, and the process it takes. On his desk you can see some of the things he is working on. Some are hand etched on a plain glass, whilst others have been sandblasted first and then etched onto after giving another dimension to the finished product.

Sand blasting 14/08/23

Dartington Crystal introduced me to the process of sandblasting, which looks similar to etching but is a process that can get the same results every time.

Sandblasting leaves two tones to the glass - the transparent untouched glass and the translucent sandblasted areas. The process of sandblasting is shown in the photo below taken at Dartington Crystal.

This photo shows some of Dartington's finished products which have been sandblasted. You can see that an identical illustration can be produced repeatedly using the stencils.

Hand etching is great for producing bespoke products and showing how the bottles I'm designing will look. However, if the bottles I am designing are to be mass produced, or even batch produced sandblasting may be the best way to create the design. It would reduce the production time and human error which is the downside to hand etching.

Dartington Crystal 11/08/23

Dartington Crystal is located in North Devon and is one of the only fully working glass factories in the UK. What makes it unique is that you can visit the factory to get an understanding of the glass making process from the first stages of production to the shop shelves.

It has been beneficial to my project to learn how they make differently shaped glasses and the processes needed to make a new shape. It was also interesting to find out what finishing techniques they can use on different glasses and bottles.

Looking at how much work goes into the creation of each product gives a newfound respect for the employees at every step of the production; from those working in the (very Hot) glass moulding and blowing warehouse - to those sandblasting - and those quality checking and packaging. Each role in the production is vital to the creation of high-quality glass products.

The glass is heated up in the furnaces until it is hot enough to manipulate, then it is hand blown to the correct size to fit in the mould - where it is blown to the shape of the mould. The glasses are put in this rotatory machine (photo below) to heat the tops, removing the sharpness of the edge so they are safe to drink from.

This blue bottle is one of the finished products produced by Dartington Crystal that really stood out to me. The detailed gold work stands out beautifully against the rich blue of the bottle. This is highlighted by the bright lighting!

As well as creating all the glasswork, Dartington Crystal produces the packaging for their products. You can see that thought has gone into the packaging design to show the unique process of their products and that it has been tailored to the places they are selling to and their different target audiences.