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JPVinyl I don't know what state your in but for myself I looked up online Artists and Crafters in Reno. Up came several sites, one in particular that list all the upcoming art and craft fairs, by each month, with contact info, price, location etc. try different search words: craft fairs, church craft fairs, community art festivals etc. you'll come up with lots of info. Good luck.

Just watched some YouTube videos on photomask resists. Surprise! ikonics (photo systems) has a mask that needs no washout. Just expose, apply, and blast! There are two kinds, rapidmask for line art and less complicated artwork and rapidmask for fine detail ( half tones). Not sure on the laters name, but you get the gest of it. How wonderful! The washout with the old photomask could cause you problems and wasted a lot of mask. Check out their videos.

I'll email owner an ask question, thanks. How do you take a design in Adobe creative suite 5 to vinyl master cutting program? thanks. The bids up to $152 now with 21 watching. just read that it's missing a disk with the fonts and stock photography! Rats

Thanks WG! Is that the full program for $105. Or is that the upgrade for existing ai programs? Seems really inexpensive ! Thanks, you've come through for me again. What about updates on the software, are you eligible for those coming from another individual or what?

Can anyone give me some pointers on which version of IA to buy online? I can't afford the full version but would like to save png, convert to dxf, then cut on economy cutter. Thanks

The trick with Arrmour etch is to repeatedly alter the direction you go over the etch areas with application brush. This ensures that all areas on the glass are covered. Another trick is to heat the solution by putting it into a hot water for a while.

Try photomask for etched glass, read my post under general discussions, glass etching.

Yes, the more you use it the opening on the tip of the eraser is getting blasted away.

Thanks WG. What is the surface like on US SB mask? Rubbery or slick like vinyl? Can I burnish pencil into it to transfer designs or is it strictly for cutting with machine? Until I get plotter, I have to do by hand. Bye.

Photomask for glass etching.

Thank, I'll try that, signyouup. Wild goose, I'll look up Gimp. Thanks again! Since everyone is so helpful, I thought I'd pay it forward with my experience in glass etching. Please read my post in general discussion, glass etching if your interested in learning about processes I used in my work.

Before you invest in equipment, check your housing development HOA /CCR's to see if your not violating any rules. Some don't allow you to run home based businesses out of your home. If your going to etch glassware with names, images, and photos you should consider a photomask by Ikonics ( old Chromaline I think) or stencils by Raysist. I was using a liquid photo emulsion by Chromaline in the 80's to do large windows but it had its limitations. Since then they have come out with a photomask. A Photo mask is daylight sensitive film (mask), so use it in red light conditions. Basically, you create a b/w transparency for artwork. Use camera-ready artwork to create a transparency or print a transparency with a laser printer. Inkjet printers don't create a dense black image suitable for transparency. The image is transfer to the mask by means of exposing the transparency to a UV light source. Everywhere there is black, will be blocked when exposed to the UV light. Different thickness Photomasks have different exposure time, different blast depths. Next, you washout the image (Under pressure) exposing your design and creating your sandblast resist. Where there was black does not harden under UV light; hence, it washes out of the mask. You let it dry then apply to glass via carrier sheet provided with mask. Blast it under low pressure to desired depth using 180 silicone carbide grit. (If you blast with to high pressure, you will begin to loose detail in the mask edges like small fonts and could blast the mask away ruining your glass item. Mask will develope blackish color on mask if you blast concentrate the blast in one area to long. After blasting, The photomask is removed by soaking in warm water. Don't let mask go down drain, clogged pipes after a while. That's a rough description of the process but that's it in a nutshell. Experience with the mask is the best teacher. look online at www.Ikonics.com they offers classes and more info too. You can blast people's business card, logos, Names on wedding toasting glasses, tiles, trophies, mirrors or even a b/w photograph in dpi format for the more advanced user. Lots of uses for different substrates. There's the good olde sandblast mask you can use to do flat glass panels, wall mirrors, glass signs. It comes in various thicknesses, depending on how deep you want to blast. The one I used years ago was like a rubberized vinyl. You apply this to the glass, draw directly on it with a pencil, pen or transfer the design by burnishing from a pencil drawing onto it. Easy to cut with X-acto knife and I used this for multi-stage blastIng. Or you can simply buy a vinyl cutter from USCutter designed to cut sandblast mask, do your design work, and cut as many as you want! ( I wish!) Your very limited using an air eraser. I used it for subtle shading on glass. I forget what grit size I used, maybe a 400-600 grit (white) aluminum oxide. Very low, low pressure. It was almost a baby powder consistency. It frosts the surface. Very soft effect to the air eraser. There is a solution called Armour Etch that does a surface etch on glass. But I wouldn't recommend using it. You don't get any depth on the glass like sandblasting achieves. You can use regular contact paper to hand-cut your designs. I've been experimenting with printing images right onto the contact paper. You tape the contact paper to a carrier sheet (on all sides to prevent it jamming in printer) before printing. A heavy paper stock or thin card stock is good. Print then before releasing from card stock, cut the image out. Apply transfer tape to hold everything together, then transfering to glass just as you would transfer vinyl. (Note: on a scrape piece of glass, I suggest you experiment with depth of blast until contact paper either looses its edge or shows signs of deteriorating. The contact paper will turn blackish from the silicon carbide grit hitting the surface, in areas where you concentrate the blast. This tells you it's time to move to another area or the mask is deteriorating. This method works on flat glass, not to well on curved surfaces or for small details. Sometimes I would apply two layers of contact paper for deeper blasts. Poor man's way to achieve what a cutter could do! It's a time consuming method but cheap. Good for starter. ALWAYS WEAR A RESPIRATOR TO PROTECT YOUR LUNGS! The dust is nasty. Read safety instructions for sandblasting. I could go on forever, but I won't. Lol There's lots of videos on YouTube about both these methods. Look under photo etching on glass, glass etching, Raysist, photo engraved glass, sandblast cabinets for equipment info, etc. Recently saw an outstanding site that blew my mind. Karenbarnardstudio.com. Check it out, you'll be amazed. Good luck. I'd be interested in hearing about cutting on USCutters SB mask for flat glass. Can you transfer designs easily, if you don't have a vinyl cutter, by burnishing pencil into mask or do you have to draw on mask? The mask I used was called buttercut. Can't remember who makes it? This is a close up of the detail u can achieve with a photomask. I've had it around forever, so the etch has oil on it, giving it a smudged appearance. Guess I should have cleaned it better. Oops. attachment=108320:image.jpeg]

Thank you WildGoose for replying! Your insight to what I need is very helpful. I will keep all you said in mind. That free trial of Illustrator sounds interesting, I'll look on eBay or Amazon. Lots to do. Thanks again, it's very kind of you to take the time to answer my post.☺️

I have an HP office jet 6700, HP Scann 4.0.50, currently have only Microsft word to design in. No real design programs at this time. Don't know if I have the scanner setup wrong, choice of presets wrong or something else. I've experimented changing the presets in the scan program but nothing comes out the same size as the scan when printed. Any suggestions.

Thank you for taking time to respond to my post Ms Skeeter and Wildgoose. After reading through the different topics, I'm going to checkout the Graphtec CE6000 or the Roland. I'll look for distributors in my area, I'd like to see it run before purchasing. I once had an Ioline plotter back in the 70's! Lol. I was digitizing and cutting all my etched glass designs for pantry doors. But that was years ago, I'm sure software and machine have made asthonishing improvements. I won't be doing large items like that anymore since moving and no longer having a shop devoted to my glass work. I'll check out Adobe Illustrator too, any particular version I should get? I watched part of the video on copyrights and the recent proposed changes as of July 2015.....any update on that? What a terrible piece of legislation that would be! Thank again, Kind Regards, Irene

I'm having trouble with my printer. If a scan a design it never comes out at the same size when I print it. The page setup says its at 100%. Could it be the dpi I'm using when I scan the graphic? I'm new to this so please bear along with this newbie! Thanks