A Variety of glass engraving commissions!...and once again, perfume engraving in Selfridges, London

Canal boat scene on 6mm laminate glass 540mm x 840mm for an internal window. (see below)

 Thank goodness it is March, at least it should not be too long before we all start feeling a bit warmer. My fingers are quite numb as I am typing and I have an overwhelming need to eat??! Gym 2-3 times a week helps a little but not enough to compensate. I am not playing enough golf to burn it off either  as it is still too cold. Golf days for me have been 10 holes followed by a good ol' natter over lunch with the ladies. I am much more involved now as I have launched myself into the role of Ladies Vice Captain (Halesworth Golf). I am organising the mixed matches and we have our first match near the end of this month. I am really looking forward to normal golf and weather again.

The first glass engraving commission  I am sharing this month is this lovely crystal vase which is for a special anniversary, the images are unusual, but that is the nature of my business, everyone is different and isn't it wonderful to be able to create something that is so unique and personal, meaning so much to just themselves.
The lettering was sandblasted and the rest was hand engraved with a drill.

 

 Then I had to rather urgently engrave 30 enormous wine glasses!!

In the sandblasting cabinet

 You can see how much was involved with each one, the logo was on 2 sides of the glass.
Here I am busy sandblasting them.

 I believe they were to be centrepieces on table at a Valentine's Day event in London.

Presently I have 4 pieces in the World Land Trust "Birds and Bees" exhibition in Halesworth (link at the end of page)

 

One of the pieces is this Tudor Crystal honey pot. It is thick and heavy lead crystal, so beautiful to engrave. I simply engraved 3 honey bees around it.

 

Then it was time to start a commission that I received at the end of last year. An internal window for a private home.

 The image was supplied by the client and I blew it up to size, enhanced it and added features for the composition.

 

 I used 3 major glass engraving techniques, the first being acid etching. After preparing the background with a special resist, I then painted on the acid. The mask and glasses help protect from the fumes being produced.

 Then I began hand engraving with my heavy duty flexible drive drill and a large stone bur for bright effects.

The dust extractor can be seen on the right of the picture, this is sucking up the dust being produced. I also used a micromotor with smaller stone burs for smaller details.

 

  The third technique used was sandblasting, this produced some soft watery tones which could then be further worked on with the drill.

The boat's name is indistinct so does not appear back to front when viewed from the other side. This window will be viewed from either side within the house.

It will appear simply in mirror image whichever way you look at it. The engraved side will appear matt and the other side will have a smooth finish (being the unengraved side)

An update on the glass engraving lessons: I am STILL waiting to hear from the village hall about the updated price.

On the 7th, 8th and 9th March I will be in Selfridges, London, engraving perfume bottles for Acqua di Parma. Of course it is the lead up to Mother's day. I am normally in Harrods so this will be a new experience!

Here is the link for the World Land Trust exhibition:  http://www.worldlandtrust.org/gallery

Featured article:

http://www.worldlandtrust.org/news/2013/02/birds-bees-exhibition-echoes-wlt-commitment-nature-conservation  

Remember - "Enjoy yourself - it is later than you think"

 CLICK HERE to go to my main website Lesley Pyke Limited - Glass Engraving

Glass engraving lessons for beginners, learn to make your own gifts.

This is call for those interested in learning how to engrave glass "from scratch" .

Glass is a wonderful medium and the craft is very theraputic!
Many of my students in the images below (taken at the Darsham craft days) had never scratched a glass in their life before!

In these days of high costs of living, this craft opens a whole new meaning to the word "gift" it will no longer be a 4 letter word, but one that excites and inspires you.

I am building a list of names of interested people, aged 15 - 100 (or over if you can) !

I will advise details of where, when and costs etc at a later stage.

Glass engraving is the art of scratching the surface of the glass so that it captures the light.  Therefore if you do it in an orderly fashion, you can create a beautiful and fascinating image.

I have taught glass engraving for many years, mainly one to one specialised lessons. I also taught for several years at the Darsham craft days, which I enjoyed beyond words!

Click on image for a larger picture.

The location will be in Suffolk, UK, near Halesworth IP19.

All I need is an email from you to say you are interested and when would your most convenient time be:  glass@lesleypyke.com



State in the subject line "GLASS ENGRAVING LESSONS"

You will be under no obligation whatsoever, to attend. I will simply add you to a mailing list of those interested.

Should this be worthwhile, I may in future extend lessons to more advanced engraving using drills. Following that can come variety workshop days and exhibitions!

The beginner classes will be using a simple hand held diamond tool which will be included in the costs along with the glassware.

Let's get scratching!!!!!!!!!

CLICK HERE to go to my main website Lesley Pyke Limited - Glass Engraving

All new year, bright and sparkly!! New glass engraving video.

 Hi everyone, I hope that all those in UK have not been too adversly affected by all this snow! It is a bit of a novelty here in Suffolk, for me anyway, luckily just enough for fun and not major disruption as I have only 5 minutes of driving to get to work! I did have one day of digging my car out and waiting for the farm digger to clear a roadway off the farm, but that was sorted soon enough.

The last couple of months last year were pretty hectic with work, to say the least. For me it is a time of many awards and presentations as well as Christmas gifts large and small. Many I had no time to photograph.

I did take a few though and I have added them below. The Guys Hospital Trust awards took place as normal, I have completed their awards for a number of years now, smaller monthly Care awards as well as the major annual awards. This year, being the Olympics, they had run an extra group of awards and I had to create some engraving with quite tricky hand painted colour infill. The colours blended with a rainbow effect for the logo and then I had Gold Silver and Bronze to include. I mixed my own bronze colour by adding a little of the black paint to a deeper gold paint. I sandblasted deeply first to contain the paint. These paints are NOT permanent and would not be suitable for anything which would be washed regularly.

 

These are rather lovely heavy lead crystal whisky decanters, they make excellent presentations. They are £47.36 before engraving.

 

An interesting subject to engrave, a daddy-long-legs, but with maximum accruacy as it was for a serious bug expert, to put it lightly! This is an optical crystal cube.

 

On several occasions I have been asked to re-create a major award, where the original is handed back and the winner gets a small token as a reminder, or when the same piece is awarded to two people to share. Once I engraved large crystal bowl for a winner of the Chelsea Flower Show, this one was for The Francis Elkin Award. The glass is a piece I had in my showroom for some time, a spectacular large hand blown and very old trophy shape vessel with the most beautiful sounding ring, it even rang when I sneezed on one occasion!!!  I had been looking at it an waiting to be inspired with a masterpiece, but had not come up with an idea before my dear friend spotted it and decided it would be perfect for what they wanted!!! I had bought  it years ago off a deceased estate of an engraver (who no doubt had also been looking at it and waiting for something special to engrave)

 

I did not really want to part with it yet but I had no choice but to give in, it was indeed perfect for the job, it was its destiny if you like. I wonder if magnificent glass objects have a special soul?

 

I love engraving the subject of trees, why I don't know, so I was delighted when I was asked to engrave these for a gentleman in the UK by his daughter who lived overseas. Quite special.

 

I was asked by a returning customer, to engrave another special gift for her husband.  They have some meaningful memories regarding the subject and it was well received according to a lovely email I got from the recipient which brought tears to my eyes! What a sop I can be sometimes! This is a stunning heavy Atlantis Crystal decanter.

 

I had this gentleman ask if I could copy this old engraving. It had been broken whilst being framed. I had not heard of the engraver and aparently it was pretty old. It appeared to have been engraved with a diamond point, very neatly, so I engraved it in a similar style but with my drill, copying it as acurately as I could. The glass used was non reflective 3mm glass. An interesting exercise. I signed it with both my name and the original name.

 

 

Sometimes a simple monogram on a beautiful delicate Dartington Crystal port glass is just the job!!

 

These are great little glasses which I have in stock, the Glencairn Glass. I have my Scotch out of one at home, especially shaped for the nose.

 

Then it was December and we were OFF!!! 5 weeks holiday in New Zealand, to spend valuable quality time with my 2 sons, my grandson, friends, sunshine, golf,....and more golf!

 

....oh boy, then back with an icy bump!

My golf experince will be rather different from now (once I can get back onto the course) as I am now very proud and delighted to be the Lady Vice-Captain of Halesworth Golf Club
(18th white...I mean green...pictured below).

 

 

  My morning dog walks of late are pretty spectacular!

 

 

 

....and pretty chilly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

...anyway, then I decided to do a quick new video whilst things were not too busy yet, I have been thinking of this theme for some time. I am FAR from an expert at filming and just enjoy playing with the very old camera (with remote control) and some decent software (which I know about 10% of how to use)

It is a light hearted look at basic glass engraving.

 

Stay safe out there and be happy!!

CLICK HERE to go to my main website Lesley Pyke Limited - Glass Engraving