Etched '41 Plymouth

[ClearHooter]

[IMG][/IMG]

Thanks to my son for walking me through this. Lets see what comes out.

Several months ago my brother-in-law bought out a local glass shop. It'd been in business over 70 years. There was probably scraps of glass that had been there probably since the beginning. The guy NEVER threough anything away. Such was the case with these flat, vent-glass, patterns that gave seed to this idea. At least on my part. I've been etching glass since 1998 when I started doing it on monuments. The neat thing about glass is there are two sides on which to work. This 41 Plymouth was etched on a '41 Plymouth vent glass. The interior is etched on the back of the glass and therefore has an appearence of deminsion. The real trick is not the etching or the 3-D look but finding the hood or grill ornament I use to balance out the theme.

If this works I'll post several more[IMG][/IMG] [/IMG]

[lostprophets]

those are awfully tiny pictures but from what i can see those are really awesome... keep it up

[ClearHooter]

Here's some detail of the fleetline[/IMG] [/IMG]

[lostprophets]

freakin sweet man

[Blip]

That's a great idea for showing your art.
Do you paint the glass and then scratch in the image or is it cut into the glass?

[ClearHooter]

Its etched using a diamond point pen that knocks out a pin-pont sized dot. Then painted and scraped. That's sized up and then etched where needed then repainted. This process is done until its what I want. If the etching is only white this process only needs to be done once.

[grantrl78]

Those are really cool. I love how much character you gave the surface of the cars. They really read as metal.
Only wish I could see em larger
I had an illustration annual from 77 that my uncle gave me. It had so much
creative stuff like this in there. Way before computers took over. These have a really great style. That chevy emblem is amazing!

[ClearHooter]

Thanks. It was funny when my daughter saw it she said before touching it "How'd you get that emblem to stand out like tha...Oh." The emblem is one of the few times I actually used gold paint on a piece.

[knightvision]

Beatyful. Real artwork. I guess you have a 56k modem... otherwise you could post bigger pictures. They are so great, they should be shown larger.

[Blip]

Thanks for covering the steps in making your designs.

How long does it take to complete a design?
Do you make a free hand draft first or just create it on the glass?

[ClearHooter]

Glass and stone are pretty unforgiving. I always use a line drawing to start with. Ain't no erasing on glass and rock. I also have started steering away from single strength glass; like you use in a picture frames. Unless something simple is going on it. It never breaks until your putting that one last, little, finishing touch on it. You can't imagine how frustrating that is until your finishing up on a light colored NASCAR, with all those little sponsor decals and your 11x14 single strength glass fractures. 3-4 hours shot! Time wise I can do an "mechanical" etching that isn't going to be colored in 1 -1.5 hrs. I can do animals and landscapes in a much shorter time. I hate portraits!!! Colored etchings? Add another 1 -1.5. NASCARs are different. They are made up of a bunch of little stickers. They have to be done to make up the shape of the car. Light colored cars are harder 'because you have to etch so much more. And on NASCARs you have to deal with those stickers. I don't have but one of these left and its cracked. I'll see if I can dig it up and show you what I mean. I've only had one etching that I've given up on and that was a three masted clippership. I tried to do it on 3 pieces of glass that would be stacked together. 6 working surfaces. Got very confusing. I've done 6 surfaces before but they were wildlife scenes and delt with different shapes rather than the lines that make up the masting of a sailing ship. That'll make you see cross-eyed and turn dislexia inside out. I also have a means of lighting these etchings that only illuminates the etchings. I call these "Illuminations." What else? Non of this stuff is mass produced and it takes much longer to illuminate an etching. This is also something that has to be seen in real life to appreciate.

I've just started posting via a host site. The pics I'd saved are for other forums. I'll try and resize some of it for this one. Don't know about "modems." Just know enough about how to work a computer to be dangerous.

[Blip]

Thanks for sharing the details.
Sounds like you are a "master" at etching.

I'm amazed at how fast you can finish one and the the idea of giving the design some depth by using multiple layers of glass is awesome. I can see were you need good vision and a very steady hand.

I'd like to see more of your designs. Do you have/or plan on making your own web-site displaying your work?

[ClearHooter]

I had a site and domain but the guy that was hosting it was a personal friend. He's had some major heart problems and has pretty much got out of about everything but survival. I plan on getting another back up I just haven't had the time as of yet.

[lotuz]

coool that's nuts.... that absolutely cool

[ClearHooter]

Thanks. I'm going to try and get time to do some larger pics to post.