Sans Soucie
Art Glass Studios, Inc.

Sans Soucie Art Glass creates a variety of gorgeous etched or frosted, carved and painted glass designs for Wine Cellar Doors in a beautiful array of design styles.  Our  most popular is our “Vineyard Grapes” Series, featuring grapevines and ivy, draped or nestled on various border shapes and styles.

For Wine Cellar Door Glass, the designs are etched and carved on the glass, and the the background area of the glass is left CLEAR, allowing for visibility through the glass, into the wine cellar.  The rich, warm wood colors and textures on the inside of the wine cellar, along with the lighting coming from inside, create the perfect back-drop and setting to really illuminate and ‘bring out” the etched and carved textures in the glass.  When the design is 3-dimensionally sculpture carved into the glass, all the edges of the grapes, leaves and vines within the design will actually pick up the light and will illuminate and have a very bright white three-dimensional “outline”,  and will be “free floating” image in the glass.

With additional designs on the way, The Vineyard Grapes Series currently consists of four design styles to choose from:  Cascade, Garland, Trellis and Unfurled.

As with all etched and carved glass designs by Sans Soucie, each Vineyard Grape design can be sandblasted using three basic sandblast techniques,  with the last offering the option to add color the carved textures.  The different sandblast techniques result in a wide price range, due to the amount of labor and varied levels of design skill required to execute the effect.

The first, most basic and least expensive method is called a SOLID ETCH (see photos).  This technique is just that:  SOLID WHITE.  It’s what’s called a “single-stage sandblast”, in that the entire stencil or template is removed from the glass, all at once, and the design will be sandblasted “overall”, at a faster pace.  This method requires the least amount of skill and is the most common method of sandblasting, and what most people “picture in their minds” when they think of etched or frosted glass.

The second, “next level up”, is what we call SURFACE ETCHING AND SHADING.    This is a “multi-stage sandblast” effect, where each and every segment of the design is individually removed and sandblasted, one piece at a time.  The design will NOT be etched SOLID, but areas are “shaded”, which means the etching will delicately and gradually “fade back out” to clear glass.   THIS is where both years of training and practice are required, in order develop the skill needed to create a quality effect.   The highly skilled artists at Sans Soucie Art Glass have been honing their skills and doing this work for many, many years, having created literally thousands of pieces in order to attain the level of quality precision achieved by Sans Soucie Art Glass.

The “third level up”, is CARVED AND SHADED.    The “steps” are similar to etching and shading, but the areas are sandblasted longer, to create that 3-dimensional, sculpted texture.  As with any other type of sculpting, it takes a gifted artist to achieve just the right depth at a consistent and correct level for just the right effect.  And don’t forget, we’re working on glass here!  Not clay or stone!  As everyone knows, glass is fragile, and must be “handled with care” to prevent breakage!

Lastly, the CARVED glass surface can be PAINTED, adding color the design.  This is an additional step in the process that requires a tremendous amount of additional time and labor, but when the piece or project calls for it, and color is desired, the results are well worth it.   Applying color to the carved glass adds a truly stunning effect .. whether it’s a hint of color, or deep, vibrant tones.    The colors are TRANSLUCENT (allowing light, but not detailed images, to pass through; semitransparent), or SOLID (which will block any light from passing thru, perfect for creating effects like the illusion of free floating metal, floating in the glass by applying a solid metallic paint).

Visit our Wine Cellar Door Glass Gallery to see more designs for Wine Cellar Doors!

Also visit our Custom Designs Gallery and a Productions Designs Gallery, where you can view hundreds of pieces, by Type of Piece or Type of Design.  Take a virtual tour of our showroom and read the bio of our principal artist, Chauncey W. Gannett.  There’s even a page with Pricing Examples.  Read about some of our Commercial Commissions and even Request a Quote.  For further details, and to request a custom quote, Contact Us.