A pane of glass is a blank canvas for artist
Billy Klausner, who can transform a smooth surface
into an elegant tabletop or eye-catching shower
door.
Just don't ask him to show you a catalog of all
he can do.
"That's like asking a painter to show you a
list of everything he can paint," said Klausner,
president and CEO of Crystal Illusions, an
art-glass studio in Bedford Heights.
Art glass, from stained to etched or cast,
brings elegance to any setting, home or office.
Its applications range from simple to ornate,
depending on the piece's used and the customer's
taste.
"Glass is very popular all types," Klausner
said. "When you want to stylize glass, there are
different methods to do that. Etched glass is
something people are more familiar with than
others. It's one of the many processes for
decorating glass that we can use."
The original acid-etching process, using
hydrofluoric acid to dissolve glass into a
pattern, is being gradually supplanted by sand
carving. Sand carving involves altering the
surface of glass with a gunlike blaster spraying
sand at a high velocity. Blasting allows artists
to carve more detail into the glass, giving images
greater depth.
The biggest drawback to either method of
etching glass, according to Klausner, is that it
creates a porous surface that can be difficult to
clean. A sealer can be used to combat fingerprints
and stain problems generally associated with
carved glass.
Cast glass is another, more expensive, option
that is emerging in the art-glass studios. Cast
glass will show more ripples and
characteristics, as compared with sand blasting,
which starts with a flat piece of glass.
To pursue this new avenue of cast glass design,
Klausner has two kilns. The kiln allows Crystal
Illusions to work
with large pieces of glass and alter it in many
ways.
