How to Engrave

Everyday we give or receive awards to commemorate hard work, achievement and success. With this we take time to personalize each piece to acknowledge the individual or team/ company that have exceeded expectations and should be recognized for their efforts.
So how do we get your name on the award? Well, the engraving process takes time and has a sequential order to it. First we start with picking out the select style of the award(s) that will be engraving. Once the awards are picked- we make sure we get art approval. Basically we mock up all the names and logo(s) that will be on the award as well as clarify where they will be etched.
When art work is approved, we have to create photomasks of the art work that will be placed onto the awards.

Steps to Create a PhotoMask:
1. Create the art work and print the designs onto a film print.
2. Expose the film print art work to a photoresist film using UV lighting. Areas exposed to the UV light will harden because the film print prohibits the UV lighting to shine through the photoresist which will leave an exact outline of the artwork.
3. Use pressurized water to wash the photoresist film which will wash away the non-exposed areas and leave you with a photomask of your art work design.
4. Clean the appropriate spaces with some glass cleaner where the artwork will go on the awards.
5. Once awards are cleaned and dry- place photo mask on the award where the engraving will take place.

Check out this video to see how to apply a photomask to a flat surface. 

However, applying a photomask to a flat surface may not seem as hard and time consuming. So you may ask - what about curved surfaces? Well, curved surfaces are definitely a bit more tricky and timely. As seen in the video above, the artwork needs to be scaled at 100% to make sure it is perfectly accurate. Though, if its a curved surface (such as a bowl or a vase) we need to curve the wording and sometimes the image to make sure it fits well.

  Check out this video to see some helpful tips on applying a photomask to a curved surface.

Now that we have approved artwork, turned the artwork into a photomask and applied it to our piece(s) - its finally time to etch/engrave. When sandblasting,  we need to use a high-pressure of compressed air and sand that is only the best, purest and highest  quality rated that doesn't have any debris which can cause imperfections onto the piece being etched. Once the photomask is taped on and ready for engraving, it is placed in an etching machine where it the piece sits on top of a rack while high pressure sand is sprayed over it. The sand eats through the lighter part of the photomask which in turn ends up being the etched area on the award. 

Take a look and let us know what we can engrave for you today!

http://lutcrystalworks.com/