Easy to use resist

You guys are the greatest, and if an Orchid Folks dinner ever comes
to Northwest Ohio… I can’t wait! I’ll even cook! Meanwhile, I have
some pieces that are highly polished and I want to mask off small,
top areas to retain polished surfaces, while glass bead blasting (
another Orchid Tip!) the lower level surfaces, is there an easy
resist to mask and trim that will hold and yet leave no residue?
Black electrical tape comes to mind, or masking tape, but I’m sure
one of you has a better trick… Thanks for all your input so far!
Baker O’Brien www.bakerobrienglass.com

Have you tried nail varnish? Build it up in layers until it is
thick enough and afterwards remove it with ascetone. Alan Lewis
www.watchrepairer.co.uk

Baker,

Electrical tape will work, but works better if your pieces are flat

and without any other texture (reticulation, for example). Buttercut,
a resist used by glass workers for sandblasting, is heavier and
rubbery and will conform to textures and curves better. If you have a
lot of curves or recesses (like a carved ring shank), my favorite is
UHU. UHU is a brand of removable adhesive putty, commonly used to
stick posters on the wall, stuff like that. I use it to cover stones,
to cover omega clips, masking off highly carved rings, etc. Peels
right off, and is reusable. I’m sure other brands of adhesive putty
will work as well, but I like saying " UHU."

Doug

Douglas Zaruba
Zaruba & Co.
35 N. Market St.
Frederick, MD 21701
301 695-4556

Rubber cement, white glue, figernail polish, masking tape, adhesive
paper (labels), little stick-on circles for reinforcing holes in
notebook paper, silicon adhesive, wax, formaline tape, clear packing
tape and watercolor friskett all work. Anything that will stay in
place and is resilient or rubbery. Experiment!

–No�l

Hi Baker Your pieces on your site are beautiful! A number of years
back when I was glass etching, I would buy a white resist from the
local stained glass supply. It was opaque white, took pencil and pen
lines very nicely, easy to cut, and came in different thicknesses
and a couple of widths, maybe 12 and 18". But what I’d really like to
comment on is the use of glass beads to etch glass. They may not work
as well as you’d like. I had very good results using 600-800 grit
garnet. Always a fast, smooth and even finish, but when I tried using
glass beads I was suprised at how they reacted with the glass. I
could regulate the airflow with the trigger on the blasting gun, at
lower pressures the glass beads just bounced off the glass without
affecting the surface, as I increased pressure I started to get a
spattering of coarse etching, almost like a spraycan with a dirty
nozzle. Eventually the entire surface would be etched but it was kind
of grainy looking. Try etching some drinking glasses first to check
your results, and have fun!

Best
Mark Keefer
mvkdesign

Baker, Contact paper works great. It has the added advantage that you
can cut it up and play with the arrangement before you peel the back
and expose the adhesive and stick it on. John Flynn