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Tag Archive for: frosted glass

China’s fascination with glass may have gone too far

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China has been the site of many recent, high-profile glass attractions – bridges, walkouts, observation platforms and the like. The goal of these attractions are usually entertainment, but China may have taken its love affair with glass just one step too far.

Tourists at Shiyan Lake in the country’s Hunan Province can take full advantage of the park’s public restrooms, which are made entirely of glass, but at least on the facilities’ first day in action, most visitors chose not to.

The bathrooms are perched above the area’s spectacular forests, and feature glass-walled stalls and glass floors. The glass walls and stall doors are not heavily frosted, so it’s possible for other park visitors to see inside each cubicle, and there’s not much visual separation between the men’s and women’s restrooms. The floors in the treetop lavs are made from clear glass.

Most tourists have expressed a great deal of reservation about using the all-glass lavatories, and the concept gives new meaning to the French phrase, “natural break.” Nonetheless, some brave visitors have made good use of the treetop potties, while others have said that their need to go outweighed their need for privacy.

If you’re considering a frosted glass project, you might consider an alternative that produces similar results. Glassprimer™ glass paint offers a frosted finish on its paint that creates a frosted effect without the cost associated with frosted glass. And unlike frosted glass, which is created using a chemical or mechanical abrading process, Glassprimer™ glass paint comes in virtually any color. You don’t need to settle for traditional white, although virtually any shade of white is available!

Glassprimer™ glass paint provides excellent coverage for about $1 per square foot, which is less expensive than traditional frosted glass. In addition, Glassprimer™ glass paint bonds permanently with glass surfaces, so it won’t chip, fade or peel, even in direct sunlight.

For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: South China Morning Post

Smart glass goes to the head of the class

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Smart glass goes to the head of the class

Smart glass goes to the head of the class

Building owners and operators are always on the lookout for ways to make their buildings more environmentally friendly. Part of this environmentalism is reducing energy consumption through materials like smart glass. As more construction takes place globally, the demand for energy increases. This puts additional stress on electrical power plants, and drives the demand for new facilities.

Building operators are committed to reducing energy consumption. Industry estimates suggest that they’ll spend nearly $1 trillion on upgrades and improvements to existing infrastructure through 2023. That may explain why smart glass is becoming a popular choice. Smart glass is specially designed glass that has the ability to change its opacity based on the presence or absence of an electrical current.

New developments in smart glass are working toward eliminating the need for continuous current. Although the electrical current demands for smart windows is small, eliminating the current can improve their efficiency over a large number of windows.

Smart windows rely on conductive suspended particles that re-orient themselves when electrical current is applied. When the current is on, the window is transparent. When the current is off, the particles become disorganized and block light. Varying the current can cause some of the particles to orient, thereby “tinting” the glass.

Changing the opacity of the glass can also reduce the amount of solar heat gain an area experiences. Reducing the amount of solar heat gain reduces electrical consumption by reducing the need for air conditioning or other air handling.

Another environmentally friendly way to reduce solar heat gain is by coating the glass with a UV-resistant coating like Glassprimer™ glass paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint is exceptionally UV resistant, which means it rejects the invisible light waves that generate and trap heat behind glass.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is permanent. While you lose the transparency of glass, you can still enjoy natural light. The coating works well to improve spaces where the view isn’t attractive. It also comes in virtually any color, so it will blend with any color palette.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Jamie McCaffrey, via Flickr.com

Creating privacy with frosted glass

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Creating privacy with frosted glass

Creating privacy with frosted glass

In yesterday’s post, we looked at the use of interior doors made of glass, or doors that incorporate glass. Glass paint is a natural decorative medium for glass doors, whether they’re in a commercial or residential setting. Today, we’ll look at ways to use glass paint to create privacy.

Frosted glass on a budget

The great thing about frosted glass as a decorative medium is that you can use it anywhere. Typically, you see frosted glass in the bathroom, but frosted glass can be used in both residential and commercial spaces. It can certainly be used on windows, but it can also be used for purely decorative purposes.

True frosted glass is created by sandblasting ordinary glass, or by etching a glass surface with chemicals. Because the frosting process requires additional, specialized handling, frosted glass is expensive. You can create a frosted effect on window glass using glass paint. The great benefit of using glass paint to create frosted glass is that you can use any color to create the frosted effect. With mechanically produced frosted glass, you have no control over the color of the finished product. When you use glass paint, however, you choose the color you apply to the glass, so you can create frosted effects that aren’t possible with traditional frosted glass.

You can use frosted glass to improve your view. If you have a window that provides an aesthetically unpleasant view, but you also value the light the window provides, you can frost the window using glass paint. You no longer have the unpleasant view, but you still get the benefit of light from the window.

You can also use glass paint to create a frosted effect on a glass-paned room divider. The glass paint will allow you to create translucent panes of glass in any color that can effectively divide a room and provide some privacy.

In a commercial setting, you can use frosted paint to eliminate the distraction of “fishbowl” conference rooms, workspaces or offices. By backpainting the glass with glass paint, you can create a light frosted effect that increases privacy, decreases distractions and still transmits adequate light into the space. Likewise, if you have a conference room that typically overheats due to a southern or western exposure, using glass paint to frost the windows can help make the room more comfortable.

If you’d like more information about working with glass paint to create a frosted glass effect for a fraction of the cost of true frosted glass, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Leszek Soltys, via FreeImages.com

How to get a frosted glass effect

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How to get a frosted glass effect

How to get a frosted glass effect

Glass is an excellent medium for painting, but if your glass is going to be in a “working” environment, you may have to address the fact that glass is transparent! On a backsplash in the kitchen, the transparency of glass may not be an issue – in fact, it’s probably an asset. In a bathroom or bedroom, privacy may be a concern. That’s usually where you’ll find frosted glass. What is frosted glass and how can you create it?

True frosted glass is chemically treated

True frosted glass is typically created in one of two ways: sandblasting or chemical etching. Frosted glass starts out as a sheet of ordinary, clear glass. By altering the surface of the glass, you can alter the way it transmits light, and in doing so, you can alter the clarity of the glass itself.

Sandblasting can be used to create a number of different frosted glass effects. Sandblasting is accomplished by firing sand or other coarse materials at the target glass using a high-speed machine. The particles are so fine that the glass does not break, but the surface is permanently altered by the impacts. This method of frosting can be used to achieve a light, medium or heavy frosting. It can also be used to create frosting patterns.

For example, if you want to create frosted stripes or frosted areas on an otherwise clear glass, sandblasting can be used to achieve these effects. Sandblasting is more expensive than other methods of glass frosting. The cost of customized sandblasting can run between $75 and $300 per square foot, depending upon the complexity of the work and the size of the finished piece.

Frosted glass can also be created by chemical etching. Acid etching produces a uniform frosting effect and is less expensive than sandblasting. Etching can also create simple or complex designs. Etched frosted glass is less expensive per-square-foot than sandblasted glass, but etched glass can still run between about $50 and $200 per square foot, depending upon the complexity of the glass and frosting.

Glass paint can also be used to create a frosted effect. Unlike sandblasting or chemical etching, glass paint can create a frosted effect using any color. At about $1 per square foot, glass paint is much more economical than either etched or sandblasted glass. You can create frosted glass for either interior or exterior applications, since glass paint is resistant to humidity, temperature and UV light. Once cured, glass paint will not chip, crack, fade or peel and can turn an ordinary window into a frosted one cost-effectively.

For more information about creating frosted glass using Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our site. To order frosted glass paint, simply choose your color and indicate that you want a frosted effect when you place your glass paint order

Photo Credit: Joanie Cahill, via FreeImages.com