Sandblasting?

[Dee Dee]

I have wanted to have a go at sandblasting, so I bought a mini sandblasting kit with a compressor.  Two questions.....

Is there anywhere that sells small vinyl transfers to stick on the beads?

I have had a little play today, and while it etches the beads nicely, I would like it to cut into the glass a bit more.  I tried putting some black enamel on a white bead, then stuck a square of electrical tape on. It hardly takes off any of the enamel, let alone produces a white bead, despite blasting it for quite a while.  Is the grit the problem?  It is 240 aluminium oxide. 

Any help is greatly appreciated

[micpru]

What kit did you buy as it sounds interesting!
x

[Dee Dee]

Hi Michaela - you will find it on  www.etchglassaustralia.com.au  under sand etching kit.

[Zeldazog]

I bought one of these Steph, but for me it doesn't etch large enough areas for fusing - I did think it would be good for beads though

I thought it gave a nice matt finish, but wasn't that aggresive - I was using it with a can of compressed air rather than the compressor.

I found adjusting the width of the spray and trying different distances helped a bit.

You could try a more coarse sand, I've just bought a big bag of 180-220 grit for the sand-blaster where I work - the more coarse the sand, the rougher the finish but I would think there is a limit to what you could get through the needle (nozzle) of the badger air brush.

Michaela, you can get them in the UK, I think I got mine from Northern Tools - I think I am going to sell mine as I never use it - would take FAR too long to sandblast a 30cm sheet of glass!!

[Flyingcheesetoastie]

Stickers wise, I get all sorts of outline stickers from hobbycraft to have a play with.  If you are looking to carve anything deep, then you will probably have to reapply the sticker as it will get blasted off in the process.

Grit wise, yup the courser the quicker, but I would have thought you will be limited by the compressor capacity as if it doesn't bombard the glass with enough force, it still won't carve the glass away, well not in your lifetime anyway!

My cabinet was 2nd hand on Ebay but I bought a 3hp compressor for around £300 which does the job and currently have 220 grit aluminum oxide in there but will probably go to a courser size with my next bag, mainly due to the dust escaping than finish.

[Zeldazog]

Good point about the compressor capacity Rachel - I was never sure if the canned air was powerful enough anyway (and just like MAPP, it gets cold...)

Let us know what you think of the coarser medium if you try it Rachel - I've only just bought a 25Kg bag of 180-220 White alumina - I have to clean out the blaster at work as it currently has 30-40 red stuff in it!  The woodworker next door sandblasted some stuff for me recently, they use 'silver sand' which he gets from the builders merchants and dries in his wood kiln!

[Flyingcheesetoastie]

The 220 is much finer than we had at college and when I hired a large sandblaster a whole back it had 80 in it which was very quick and although had a different finish, wasn't unpleasant.

[Zeldazog]

I feel that the 30/40 was a bit too coarse - was okay for some stuff, but not other effects I want to do.

No idea what was in the cabinet at uni, I think it was fairly fine, but not as fine as the one I used at Stuart Ackroyds studio in Nottingham, that gave a beautiful soft finish.

[Dee Dee]

Thanks for the replies, I thought it would be an issue of too fine a sand, and not enough power, but that's the maximum size of the Badger pen thingy.  Does anyone know of a different pen that allows coarser stuff?

Saying that, the texture the 240 sand leaves is lovely, very smooth and velvety!

[Pat from Canvey]

When I was sandblasting 1 pint glass tankards with various designs, I hired a large sandblaster from a local studio. I used white stick on Fablon printed with the designs I wanted straight from my printer and cut out the stencils with either a scalpel for small jobs or a stencil cutter for larger ones. If I was cutting in the design deeply , I used two layers of the Fablon but there is a thicker product, I believe from 3M, see http://www.tapecase.com/c.187.1.1/sandblast-stencil-products.aspx

[flame n fuse]

Pat, thanks for that link to other products, I have always used 2 layers of Fablon (for window designs). Here is one I did a couple of years ago

installed weeds 2 by julia202020, on Flickr

[Glyn Burton]

Personally I prefer to etch, the paste can be screen printed or applied direct and the liquid is a doodle to use. I know people are nervous of the chemicals but unless you have an efficient dust extraction system the dust from sandblasting can be very dangerous.

[Dee Dee]

That's beautiful Julia!  Normally I tumble my beads, Glyn, but I want to be able to take off a thin layer of enamel or something!

[Pat from Canvey]

That's a beautiful piece Julia.

[flame n fuse]

Thank you! While I agree with Glyn about the dust issues, sandblasting does allow you to cut out different depths according to how you mask the glass etc. I suppose there might be ways of doing that with etching too?