The Victorian era was the heyday of etched glass. Acid etching (that was actually referred to as embossing by the tradesmen that made this type of glass) was actually developed by a Swedish chemist back in 1771 but became popular in the late 1800′s. This was the original method used by early craftsmen. The problem was that the process used hydrofluoric acid which was very dangerous.
As techniques were developed over time, wheel engraving became more prominent. It was first introduced during the 1850s in this country but had been around for a long time before that. Today most glass is etched or engraved. Both are quite similar but if you take a closer look at engraved glass you’ll find that the quality is not as good as etched. Engraved glass is usually done using a rotary tool to create the design. Etched glass is produced mostly by hand, one piece at a time. Another popular way of etching glass is the utilization of lasers. It’s faster to create designs this way.
When you look at etched or engraved glass they will look to be of similar quality. [click to continue…]
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