WarmGlass.com

I want to do sand blasting- actually glass carving, my question is would a sand blasting machine with the hand holes work on slumped bowls, and what type of sand is used to carve the glass?
Or do I blast glass first then slump?
I've seen carved glass items with silver leafing of gold leafing how does one find out how to do this decorative things to carved glass. I think it's a beautiful art form and need advice and instructions on what to use and how to do it. No one teaches it where I live. Appreciate your responses.
Camaro

Visit Norm Dobbins' site at http://www.etchmaster.com. Norm is the guru of decorative sandblasting/classes. He is located in Santa Fe and does classes there year round.

Whether you sandblast before or after slumping is a matter of preference and experience. Different effects for different looks.

Tony

As Tony says, the before or after question really depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you don't finish with a firing of some sort after blasting then you'll have a "frosted" look -- which may be what you want.

If you fire after you blast then you can bring the glass back to a full (or partial) shine.

As with so many thing with kiln-formed glass, planning the steps is a big part of the process.

One way to achieve a gold "leaf" effect is to airbrush metalic micas on a piece, fire it, then blast away the areas where you don't want the metalic finish -- then optionally refire (fire polish) to bring gloss back to the blasted (non-metalic) surface. Then slump. You might be able to fire polish and slump at the same time depending on what you are doing. Search on mica posts by Ron Coleman for more on this technique -- Ron has done some beautifull --- and technically flawless -- pieces.

- Paul