Author Info - GRAPHICS PRO

Ruth Dobbins

With over 35 years in the glass business, Ruth Dobbins offers experience in fused and cast glass, as well as in glass-etching techniques. She owns Professional Glass Consultants with her husband Norm and holds a master's in printmaking and art history.

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Ruth Dobbins October 9, 2020

High-Volume Sandcarving Considerations

In the awards industry, many of us are used to working with equipment that is suitable for small-scale production. We…
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Ruth Dobbins March 19, 2020

Choosing the Right Paint for Outdoor Sandcarved Projects

When choosing paint for sandcarved items that will be placed outside, such as monuments, stone plaques, or bricks for walkways,…
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Tips

Ruth Dobbins March 11, 2020

Adhering the Stencil for Sandcarving: Tape-Hinge Method

When dealing with flat pieces of glass or other substrates, applying the stencil is relatively easy, especially when the glass…
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Tips

Ruth Dobbins March 4, 2020

Testing for Time: Sandcarving Exposure Units

Having worked with many exposure units over the past 30 years, it quickly became evident that the attached timer on…
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Tips

Ruth Dobbins February 26, 2020

Situating Stencils to Sandcarve Odd-Shaped Glassware

Oftentimes we have to work on odd-shaped glassware that presents its own can of worms when it comes to registration.…
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Ruth Dobbins February 17, 2020

How can a decorator make the most of their time in the sandcarving process?

It is always a good idea to gang up certain processes. By this, I mean do all of one step…
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Tips

Ruth Dobbins February 10, 2020

What to Watch Out for When Sandcarving Mirrors

It all depends on which side of the mirror you want to sandcarve. If you sandcarve on the front of…
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Tips

Ruth Dobbins February 3, 2020

The Process of Drying Painted Sandcarved Items

With all paints, educate yourself as to the drying and curing times, which are different. Some spray paints dry to…
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Tips

Ruth Dobbins January 20, 2020

Keep Glass Unscratched During Sandcarving

One of the greatest problems all glass decorators face is trying to keep your project pristine and unscratched. Even though…
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Ruth Dobbins January 14, 2020

How important is a well-ventilated space when applying color to sandcarved items?

Color application is an often-requested add-on treatment for sandcarved items and requires, besides the obvious paints, an area that is…
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Ruth Dobbins January 7, 2020

How can airbrushing paint be applied to a sandcarving project?

One method of applying paint to a sandcarving project is by airbrushing. The hand motions of airbrushing are similar to…
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Ruth Dobbins December 17, 2019

Which light wattage is best for exposing photoresist film for sandcarving?

An important factor in choosing the right light to expose photoresist film is the wattage of the bulb. In the…
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Tips

Ruth Dobbins December 10, 2019

Sandcarving a Graphic Artist’s Design

Just because someone is a graphic artist does not mean they are able to produce the artwork necessary for sandcarving.…
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Tips

Ruth Dobbins December 2, 2019

Aligning Stencils on Stone for Sandcarving

When preparing to sandcarve stone, sometimes you have to cut the stencil apart and piece each individual line onto the…
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Features

Ruth Dobbins November 18, 2019

Start Off with the Right Image for Sandcarving

For photoresist production, you can choose bitmap images, even though vector images are better quality. You can’t cheat by using…
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Ruth Dobbins November 7, 2019

What sort of projects can be done with sandcarving photographs?

Most photographic images were used to capture people in an event in their lives. The events span our whole life: There…
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