Glass Over Acrylic

Benefits Of Glass

There are many reasons as to why I work with glass and mirror instead of acrylic.  First of all is that acrylic is what it is… plastic. It may look nice when you first get it, but the moment you dust it, you will get very fine scratches from the dust particles and even the slightest bit of light will make these scratches visible. Over time these scratches build up, and within a year or two, you’ll end up wanting to replace it.  Glass on the other hand is very tough. You can spill something on glass and remove it with a course washing up cloth or sponge and it will not damage the glass.  If looked after properly, you should never need to replace it.

Cost

For me to work with acrylic, not only would it cost a lot more than glass, but the equipment needed to work with it, and be able to fuse it together, is very expensive to buy and run.  All of which would add to the price of my items, which would end up making them ridiculously expensive.  I can get another company to build it and supply it to me at trade, but the price I pay would still be well over double the price of what I would charge my customers for a glass display.  I like to keep my prices as low as possible. As a customer and collector myself, I do not want to be ripped off, so I feel it is only fair that I treat my customers how I would like to be treated myself.

Durability

Glass is very tough and can take a lot of punishment. It is understandable that some people may be cautious about glass, but having worked with glass for so long, I can assure you that it is very tough. I tend to make the majority of my items out of standard 4mm and 6mm glass and mirror.  On some of the larger items I may use toughened glass which is a bit more expensive, but essential in some cases.

U.V.

A lot of people may have heard that acrylic filters out U.V. and glass doesn’t.  Actually, both acrylic and glass filter out about 95% of U.V.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that the item inside won’t fade.  U.V. is not the only type of light, and others will get through which could cause an item to fade over time.  I can supply items made from museum glass, but not only is that extremely expensive, but even museum displays are always in really low level lighting because of this reason.  At the end of the day, if the item is exposed to any form of light, over time, it could fade. Glass however will stay clear.  Exposure to U.V. will eventually cause acrylic to turn opaque and become brittle.