Something to Print On

When it comes to decorative glass, it seems like there’s always something new to amaze me. Take, for example, a glass installation project recently completed at the Hotel Murano in Tacoma, Wash. You see, there’s more to it than just a great display of glass artwork; it’s actually glass artwork about glass artists.

Moon Shadow Etchers located in Sandy, Ore., produced twenty-one art theme walls for the Hotel Murano and each of the hotel’s floors is dedicated to one internationally recognized glass artist. These glass walls tell the story of each artist, their inspirations and creative processes. Interior design firm Corso Staicoff of Portland, Ore., came up with the concept and Moon Shadow Etchers worked with environmental graphic designers Ditroen Inc., also of Portland, to create the panels. The process they employed? Sandblasting photographs onto glass … check out the project and read more here: http://www.moonshadowetchers.com/murano.htm.

I was talking to Tim Frasier, founder of Moon Shadow Etchers, and he told me that they started work creating the glass panels around this time last year and they worked on it until the end of February this year. It was pretty much Tim and one other person creating the glass, working12-hour days, just about seven days a week, and only taking time off for Christmas.

To me, part of what’s so appealing about this project is that a company that makes artistic glass creations, created artwork that recognized some of the world’s most well-known glass artists, think Dante Marioni (http://www.dantemarioni.com/).

Of course, it also ties into a big trend right now in glass—imagery in glass. You can ink jet right onto glass, silkscreen glass, print on interlayers for laminating glass … all of this really shows it’s a very exciting time to be working with glass.