Presentation Plates

Something new that has been increasingly popular are Presentation Plates.


Our new Presentation Plates that are going to be hitting the market come in a Metallic Grey or Saffron Orange finish.










These plates are fused together with two pieces of jade glass with a gold or silver leaf sandwiched in between them.
Check out the new designs!

Happy Halloween! Check out how the World's Largest Mouth Blown Pumpkin is made!

Deal Toys

Deal Toys are commemorative custom memorabilia that are created to acknowledge the success of closing a deal.

The most common reasons for creating a deal toy are for:
- Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)

- When a company goes public - Initial Public offering (IPO)
- Successful Deal Closings
- Money Raised
- Successful Start -Ups
- Milestones Achieved / Reached

Deal toys are given to all parties that take place in the success of a deal. For instance, the issuer of the deal; the law firms involved; the investment banks that secure the funding; and any other parties that may take part in the deal making.

Black tie galas or dinners are usually taken place to acknowledge the firms, companies and individuals that worked together on the deal.

When a deal toy is created, we first need to start out with an idea. With this we have a few options. You can take a standard piece and slightly modify it. The next option is to make something completely custom in which we take a concept from drawing to final product. That, or we can integrate a featured product directly into the design. Here we have to find out some very pertinent information about the project such as, how big it is going to be, and what is it going to look like. We have to start with drawings and renderings where we then lead into what types of materials will be used. For instance, acrylic, lucite, crystal, metal, resins, etc. are common materials used in many of our final pieces.

Deal Toys usually consist of logos of the companies involved, along with the names and date of the deal closed. Once the artwork is finalized and approved, we make a mold where we could then apply any finish needed suggested by the client. Once it's created, it is sent over to the client for final approval before scheduling mass production. If not, then the proper adjustments are made. Once corrected, the pieces are put into production and shipped out to the client with either standard or custom presentation boxes.

Manufacturing Practices

After learning about the origin of fire art (crystal and glass), the next step is to transition to how your final product takes it shape.

Jade glass is for the most part machine made and has minimal hands on manipulation of the product (obviously depends on the design of the product). Jade glass comes in large sheets that are cut and fed in to a machine or preheated oven. The most popular jade glass designs would be curved plaques like our Lucia or curved crescents like our Fresno. These items are extremely popular due to their lower price points and large personalization areas. Probably the best way of seeing how glass is bent is by checking out this video of how a small shop does it-

Optical crystal is currently one of the most popular materials to work with. Not only because of it's brilliance and density but also of it's low cost for custom startup designs. The raw material comes in blocks which are cut, shaped, beveled, polished, then glued depending on the design that is provided. Each piece is hand made and there will be some minor variances between each item in a series which is acceptable. Presentation boxes can also be custom designed and personalized to the customers needs but typically a nice die cut foam packaging is included with the price of the unit.

Cutting bevels in to product

Once the pieces have all been beveled, shaped and polished we have to take all the separate pieces and bring them together. Anytime there are multiple pieces that need to be bonded, each individual piece is fused together with UV glue. The glue is cured with an ultra violet light which allows for extremely strong bonding and clean and clear finish. This is an industry standard for bonding the materials together and you can see a large variety of of the final products by clicking on our NEW DESIGNS tab on our site. There is a nifty widget called a Price Slider where you can adjust the price range to show what products are within your budget.

                         Here's a couple of our New 2011 Designs!

                    

Lead Crystal is a totally different animal than jade or optical crystal manufacturing processes. Lead crystal and many forms of glass are hand made and mouth blown. For thousands of years nothing much has changed from the original methods of this type of manufacturing. It requires the same basic set of tools, a furnas, and skilled craftsman. Adding lead content to the glass increases the weight of each product but also increases it's light refractions. Getting the right percentage of lead in the glass is crucial to a quality of the product but the most important factor of all is the talented craftsman that blow the glass and cut the facets in to each of the products. This beautiful product is typically more expensive due to the amount of highly skilled labor that goes in to producing each piece. 

The video below has a pretty good overview of how glass blowing is done.

Our custom division has the capabilities of bringing together the world of crystal and glass manufacturing to your doorstep. We challenge you to challenge us to bring your project to life!

Where your crystal and glass awards come from-

One of the biggest confusions in the promotions industry is the difference between crystal and glass. At the end of the day crystal IS glass and glass IS crystal. The main difference between all of these different types of glass and crystal is the quality of the material and what is put in to it.

Below are 3 of the main types of glass/ crystal that you will see throughout our product line and the industry. If you have any other questions about Jade Glass, Optical Crystal, or Leaded Crystal feel free to contact one of our customer service representatives and they will be more than happy to educate you or your client about the material and processes used.

Jade Glass is formed from silica sand and gets its green tint from the amount of iron ore that is added to the mixture. The thicker the glass the more apparent the green tint is but it is still transparent and when beveled and polished makes a great award. Almost all jade glass is machine made as it is a lower cost material and widely mass produced. The most popular styles of jade glass awards would be the curved plaques and crescents which are perfect for tight budgets. You can view an example of one of these styles of awards by clicking here.

Phoenix Jade Glass Award

Optical Crystal is formed from molten material that is subjected to intense pressure to make sure that there aren't any issues such as formations or air bubbles inside of it. Once its hardened and ready to be made into a masterpiece the crystal is polished, cut and beveled into the appropriate design. Optical crystal is mainly made in China and is known for it's flawless pristine quality. The blocks come in a variety of colors but the most popular are; Clear, Blue and Black. There are many more colors to choose from but will have to be special ordered upon request for custom projects.
Here are a few images of Optical Crystal in its raw form...

Clear Optical Crystal

Black Optical Crystal

Orange Optical Crystal

Blue Optical Crystal

Lead Crystal is said to date back to the 1600s where it was and continues to be featured as a premier luxury item. Lead crystal is formed from glass that has been treated with lead oxide to add clarity and refraction that sparkles and durability for creative designs and facets that are added to the crystal by skilled craftsmen. Some of the most talented glass blowers can be found in Poland, Italy and Czech Republic. Being that the highest quality of this material comes from talented artisans there is a premium on these goods. You get what you pay for and lead crystal products are definitely the cream of the crop in the world.

Volore Lead Crystal Vases

To give you an idea the amount of craftsmanship that has to go in to producing just one piece check out the video clip below which features artists blowing glass and molding the glass.