Sowers Glass Engraving
4616 Clyde Morris Blvd. Port Orange, FL 32129 Call us 386-761-4527Open Mon. - Fri. 12:00 am - 6:00 pm
Closed Sat Sun and Holidays
sowersglass@aol.com
Artwork Specs and Information
Artwork Requirements
Please follow these guidelines to insure good quality reproduction of your artwork.
Our preferred format is vector based line art, preferred file type Adobe Illustrator format (e.g. .ai or .eps) with all with text to be engraved converted to curves or outlines, this insures your artwork is cross platform or I may not have the same font on my computer that you do and it will not be the same.
I am able to open the files that are not in a vector format, however to not charge the $45 art charge they need to be in a vector format.
If you cannot provide vector based art, we will accept electronic art in these formats: .JPG .TIF .GIF .Bump,TIFF initially created at 300 DPI. however I will have to redraw it and charge the $45 art charge.
Please do not send .PDF files.
We do not accept Corel Draw (.cdr) files. For us .cdr files are like having a wallet with yen in it. You can see the yen but if you want to buy any thing in the United States it has to be the right currency for the country you are in to spend it. To spend the money it has to be converted to dollars.
We can accept artwork on CD, thumb drive or by email.
We also accept hard copy black & white artwork that can be scanned.
Artwork should be black and white line art, no half tones.
Please avoid very tiny artwork that must be enlarged. (the larger the image, the better it will look)
All artwork should be 300 DPI or greater.
We do not accept faxed artwork.
Color logos are accepted only for those cases that can be successfully converted to black and white.
We will notify you by email if artwork needs to be cleaned.
If poor quality artwork is provided and needs to be cleaned up there will be an additional art charge.
Two proofs of the artwork are included in the labor price. After the first two proofs, there will be an extra charge for each additional proof needed to complete your order.
Please allow additional time if you do not provide good quality artwork!
Artwork may be e-mailed to sowersglass@aol.com or submitted on CD or camera ready black and white print.
If you have any questions regarding artwork requirements please contact us at 386-761-4527
Vector vs. Raster Art
Raster images, (or jpg images, photos), are made up of pixels, or square boxes that compose the image. When re sizing or editing this type of image, distortion occurs that causes blurriness and loss of detail. Since these must be at high resolution for engraving, they tend to be rather large files, which makes them hard to send electronically. Vector images are actually plotted mathematically to create a clean, crisp line. When vectors are re sized, there is no distortion and they are also best for editing purposes, especially with multi-color images. These files are much smaller and easier to send electronically. See the examples below of vector and jpg images.
Submitted artwork will automatically be re sized to max size unless otherwise noted. Requested type styles will be matched as closely as possible, but exact match cannot be guaranteed. We will use our best judgment for layout, size, type style and location of engraving.
Trademarks
Liability for correct use of a trademark rests completely with the buyer.
The top two samples are vector art.
I created this from the jpg heart below. Notice how smooth the edges are.
Below are samples of jpg type of art or photo. Yes, I can use these to create your art work as show above, but I do have to charge for the time it takes to create the are work.
With glass we work in black and white or frosted and clear as opposite color.
Designs are a large part of the orders that we create. We are happy to use customer supplied graphics or designs for engraving on our glassware and gifts. When a graphic design or text as is viewed on a computer monitor, it is usually displayed in black. For instance the text you are reading now is black. However, it is important to understand that whatever is engraved will be frosted on clear glass. So, there is a bit of a “photo negative” effect anything that is black in the design will be engraved, but it will be frosted on glass. The clear glass appears darker than the engraving, and so the clear parts will take on the role of “black.”
With many designs, this change doesn't make much of a difference. In the case of line art, text, or silhouette-type designs, the image will really look the same whether viewed in black on white (as on a computer monitor) or viewed frosted on clear glass (as in the engraved version).
The issue ends up being artwork where the eye and knows that certain parts of an image should be white or black. For example, in the image of a bride we would expect that her dress will be white not black. If an image is shown with the wrong color, it won't look correct. The result will be much like viewing a negative of a photograph you can make out the subject matter, but it won't look quite right.
With certain graphic designs, in order to preserve the relative relationship between black and white we may recommend that we invert the design before we engrave it. We will show some examples to help illustrate this:
Another time that image color is important is with photographs
We are often asked to engrave photographs on our glassware and glass gifts. While photos aren't the type of artwork that we generally recommend, we can get a nice result with some photos. However, there are some restrictions, and in some cases we will not recommend specific photos for engraving.
The issue is that we actually engrave our glass by carving the design into the glass. Glass only turns a single color when engraved which is frosted white. By comparison, photographs usually get their detail from dozens of different shades and colors. Even black and white photographs are actually grey scale, and typically contain many different shades of grey. It is not possible to replicate all of the details of a photograph when working with just the single color of frosted white.
To engrave a photograph, we will use a graphics program to turn the photo into a pure black and white image, composed of white pixels and black pixels. This image or photo will be inverted and then used as a guide for engraving. The reason for the inversion is that there is a photo negative effect when glass gets engraved,everything in black on the computer monitor will get engraved, however that will then be white on the glass. So, the inversion of the graphic preserves the correct relationship of black and white colors.
Also, in general we can obtain a better result with engraved photos on glasses that have a larger surface area for engraving. Examples of this would include pints, beer mugs, pitchers, and rocks glasses. Smaller glasses mean a smaller engraving area, and that typically mean less detail can be shown.
So what type of photographs will work well? The answer is simple ones, which include the characteristics mentioned below:
• A fairly simple subject matter, such as a single face or a close-up of one object
• Lighting that is fairly even, without a large degree of shadowing
• An uncomplicated background
• Contrasting colors, without a lot of similar shades
What type of photos will not work? Problem photos include those with the characteristics below:
• Lots of varying shades of the same color
• A large degree of shadowing, such as a face that is half shadowed and half well-lit
• Complicated backgrounds, especially ones with similar colors without much contrast, usually we eliminate backgrounds
• Areas of detail that are small in size, like distant faces
• A need to see specific (and similar) colors to make out objects, such as a litter of black and dark brown puppies
Probably the best way to get a feel for photo engraving is to look at some actual examples. Below we have shown several examples of actual photographs, and then photos of the engraved version.
EXAMPLE PHOTOGRAPHS
The bottom line? We can accept your photograph and use it for engraving, although we do want customers to understand the realities of engraving a photograph. Please do be aware of the limitations. Everything will be in frosted white when engraved, and some photographs will translate better than others. In some cases we will recommend against the usage of a specific photo.
We hope these examples help to illustrate how various photographs will look on engraved glassware. If you would like for us to review a specific photo for suitability, feel free to email us at sowersglass@aol.com and attach the picture. We will give you our honest opinion!
Another time that image polarity is important is with photographs.
The bottom line is that we are happy to engrave images any way that you like. However, we do want to make sure that customers are aware of how their designs will look on glass. Hopefully these examples have helped to illustrate this!
If you have any questions you can contact us at the following page: sowersglass@aol.com
Sowers Glass Engraving is located in Port Orange, Florida. Check out our map page we have included a google map so you can find us if you live in Port Orange, Daytona Beach, Edgewater, Palm Coast, New Smyrna Beach, Ormond Beach, Deland, Deltona, or Orange City, Florida.