A brief description in helping you to understand decorative or Sandblasted glass, there is a wide range of styles and techniques in the Art of sandblasting these depend entirely on elements such as "Design, Detail and Depth" of blast and of course budget, as the budget determines what level of etching can be reached.

The First Level: Surface "Etching" is usually the least expensive, the design (whatever it may be) will be lightly blasted on the surface of the glass frosting the glass and creating a permanent design. This is common in kitchen cabinet doors and is usually seen as a silhouette or a reverse design 2 tone blast.

The Second Level: "Shaded sandblasting": this technique allows for subtle shades of blasting ranging from light to dark creating a more 3-dimensional look to the design.

The Third Level: "Textured surface blasting": this combines surface and shaded blasting and uses different techniques of blasting to create more natural effects such as, if there were rocks and trees in a design the Rock would have the subtle textures of a rock, creating more realism to the rock, the same idea applies to the tree here we would use a special technique to create a bark like surface thus taking the design to the level of a grey tone picture from a short distance the design has a 3-dimensional appearance and closely resembles a grey scale photo.

The Fourth Level "Biting the glass": this is when the design begins to be lightly carved into the glass. Adding the illusion of depth to the design, this also allows for light to travel on the edges of the carved areas creating a glow line in the glass. This will change constantly depending on lighting, and time of day. When the art is observed, it will create a new look to the design. This also makes the art glass more interesting to look at and will not "fade into the background of the environment" because it to changes as our environment changes.

The Fifth Level "Carving": this is one of the highest levels of sandblasting; on this level the glass becomes alive. With the environment picking up small changes in the light, reflecting colours of the rooms or the outside elements and reaches true three dimensional qualities! Also at this level various finishes are applied to the carved areas to create different tones from hi-gloss polished, to a more subtle flat polish and various shades in between that are very effective when textures are applied to the design. This style of blasting closely resembles slumped or Kiln fired glass at half of the production cost also this style of blast works very well and has a very dramatic effect when light is applied to the edge of the glass thus creating a very soothing glow and adds a certain ambiance to the room.