Nameplates are one such item in the small item category of sandcarved signage, along with room number signs or room name signs you find in hotels, professional buildings, galleries, and museums.
Most of these small signs look best if blasted from the back of the glass (if glass is your substrate) and blasted to a nice depth, which gives the text a three-dimensional look.
Nameplates usually don’t require any special treatment to be read easily, but room signs, if made from glass, often need a dark background as well as some means of attaching them to the wall. This is also true for any larger signs made from glass.
Most clients are not interested in painting the background wall, where the sign will be mounted, a darker color to make the text visible. In almost all of these scenarios, we end up having a piece of metal fabricated that is slightly larger than the glass itself. Using metal as a backdrop can be finished in many different ways, from a flat, solid color application to a patina imitating a variety of looks.
-Ruth Dobbins, EtchMaster
