Fractured glass prints

[Crookedhalo]

Hi all! Just finished our first season and loved it! To keep myself busy during the off season I'm coming up with mods for my hubs to make next spring. We don't have a lot of wall space to hang pictures BUT we do have lots of frosted glass doors soooo I was thinking of replacing the frosted glass with Fractured Glass photo prints! Has anyone done/seen this?

[Reverse_snowbird]

Haven't seen it done, but it's an interesting idea.
I wonder what kind of glass they use and if it would survive the movement?
They do make those prints on acrylic or metal and that might be a tad safer.

[Brewhedd]

You might want to make sure it's tempered glass.

[Crookedhalo]

Well, have to scuttle this idea - Forest River glued the glass into the doors so no way to get it out without damaging the doors AND I chatted with Fractured and they were not terribly encouraging about the idea, mostly because of what they put on the back of the prints for hanging.

Back to the drawing board!

[Reverse_snowbird]

If your goal is to put something in place of all that glass... and you can't replace it... how about covering it up?
Perhaps you could put up removable vinyl 'stickers' over that glass. It would allow you to display the photos, cover up that glass, change photos at will and remove them if you ever decide to sell the rig. You'd probably need a solid background if the glass is patterned.
I did an internet search to find an example (not recommending this company). Probably any printing or office supply store could do this for you.
https://www.stickergenius.com/shop/photo-stickers/

[Crookedhalo]

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

If your goal is to put something in place of all that glass... and you can't replace it... how about covering it up?
Perhaps you could put up removable vinyl 'stickers' over that glass. It would allow you to display the photos, cover up that glass, change photos at will and remove them if you ever decide to sell the rig. You'd probably need a solid background if the glass is patterned.
I did an internet search to find an example (not recommending this company). Probably any printing or office supply store could do this for you.
https://www.stickergenius.com/shop/photo-stickers/

No, it's not about covering the glass, it doesn't bother me one way or the other. The idea is to be able to actually put pictures up. This model has a lot of windows in the living area (not a bad thing mind you!) that eat up most of the wall space to hang photos. I've come up with a few options - we'll have to see how they work.

Thanks for the input though!

[Reverse_snowbird]

Please post how your ideas work out so that we can all learn from your experience.

I guess I wasn't clear. My thought about the removable vinyl was that you could have pictures printed on them like the fractured glass and mount them without destroying the cabinets. Now that I think about it, if they printed just the photo without background on the vinyl, that would have the same look as fractured glass. They'd be easy to move around and replace over the years. I think that vinyl clings to wood as well as glass. Also, they would leave no trace if you decided to sell the rig.

You could also use outdoor double sided tape to mount pictures on the glass, but the pictures would probably be destroyed as you removed them and that sticky tape is difficult to remove.

Anyway, please let us know what works. It would help those who have those glass insert cabinets and want to change the look.

[Qwkynuf]

I had never heard of this company, so I was surprised to learn that they have "discovered" a way to print pictures onto glass, using a "special UV process", along with a layer of white ink to "bring depth to the overall color"

I am surprised because despite having never heard of this company who "discovered" these techniques....I literally make my living *teaching* people how to do this. The company that I work for is one of many who build and sell the kind of printers that make these types of prints, and for the last 6 years I have racked up over 750,000 airline miles flying all over the USA, helping our customers learn how to do work like this.

My advice is - before you fall for any of the marketing BS on this company's website, understand that *any* sign shop in any town that you might be in can either make something like this for you, or they have a vendor that they can outsource it to.

The glass that they use looks to me to be common picture frame glass, or maybe window glass, which wouldn't be safe for a vehicle (it shatters into shards). If you have them made custom, you can specify a clear plastic instead of glass. Depending on the thickness you want, you can get Acrylic, polycarbonate, or even PETG. It will have all of the clarity of glass, but at a lighter weight in most cases, and without the brittleness.

[Qwkynuf]

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

Please post how your ideas work out so that we can all learn from your experience.

I guess I wasn't clear. My thought about the removable vinyl was that you could have pictures printed on them like the fractured glass and mount them without destroying the cabinets. Now that I think about it, if they printed just the photo without background on the vinyl, that would have the same look as fractured glass. They'd be easy to move around and replace over the years. I think that vinyl clings to wood as well as glass. Also, they would leave no trace if you decided to sell the rig.

You could also use outdoor double sided tape to mount pictures on the glass, but the pictures would probably be destroyed as you removed them and that sticky tape is difficult to remove.

Anyway, please let us know what works. It would help those who have those glass insert cabinets and want to change the look.

Be very careful with using adhesive vinyl on wood. There are only a couple of basic types of vinyl, but there are many adhesives - and choosing the wrong one can have disastrous consequences. You would specifically want to look for one labeled "Removable/Repositionable". This will have an adhesive that is similar in nature to Post-it notes (but slightly stronger). Even with that adhesive, it may leave marks on wood over time, and you do not want to use it on wallpaper. Vinyl has additives called "plasticizers" that help it to remain flexible. These oily additives leach out to the surface over time. If the vinyl is mounted to a porous surface, the oil will stain.

Make sure that you have a conversation with whoever you are buying it from so that they are absolutely clear on the intended use - it'll save you a lot of heartache.

[llr]

It is a sublimation process, we do this our self, a couple of issues I see

Sizes, most places can't do their own coating so the sizes are somewhat limited and a good chance the won't fit the cabinets.

The hanging attachment is applied after printing so even it fractured won't leave this off it is not an issue for a local shop.

The glass is not safety glass but there are plastic films that could be applied after printing. The medicine cabinet in my camper has this.

Then only plastic my vendors carry is acrylic and the look doesn't compare to glass and the only have smaller size.

Printing on aluminum is probably an option, very nice results but not quite up to the glass prints. This is still limited on size but I would think any sheet metal shop could cut it to fit. Then use double stick tape to apply it to the glass.

Thanks for the ideas, I may be trying this myself.

[Qwkynuf]

Originally Posted by llr

It is a sublimation process, we do this our self, a couple of issues I see

Sizes, most places can't do their own coating so the sizes are somewhat limited and a good chance the won't fit the cabinets.

The hanging attachment is applied after printing so even it fractured won't leave this off it is not an issue for a local shop.

The glass is not safety glass but there are plastic films that could be applied after printing. The medicine cabinet in my camper has this.

Then only plastic my vendors carry is acrylic and the look doesn't compare to glass and the only have smaller size.

Printing on aluminum is probably an option, very nice results but not quite up to the glass prints. This is still limited on size but I would think any sheet metal shop could cut it to fit. Then use double stick tape to apply it to the glass.

Thanks for the ideas, I may be trying this myself.

Their website specifically says that it's a UV process, rather than dye sub. Their color reproduction is probably not as good (vivid) as dye sub, but the process is likely much faster since they don't have to print to a carrier and then transfer/bake.

With UV they can print a mirrored image directly to the back side of the material (2nd surface printing), and cover it with a flood fill of white ink in the same pass. The main disadvantage is that most machines with this capability are limited to CMYK inks.

[Reverse_snowbird]

We need to go back and read post #3 by Crookedhalo. The idea of fractured glass was discourage by the manufacturer due to the mounting hardware. Also the idea of damaging the cabinets is not appealing. So they are looking for other solutions.

If you look at the pictures of their rig, you can see the problem. There is very little surface area to mount pictures. The idea is to put pictures on the glass insert cabinets. I think it's a great idea to personalize the rig.

While removable photo vinyl is one suggestion to mount pictures on glass, we'd like to hear of any other suggestions. I agree that it's probably not a good idea on wood.

[llr]

Originally Posted by Qwkynuf

Their website specifically says that it's a UV process, rather than dye sub. Their color reproduction is probably not as good (vivid) as dye sub, but the process is likely much faster since they don't have to print to a carrier and then transfer/bake.

With UV they can print a mirrored image directly to the back side of the material (2nd surface printing), and cover it with a flood fill of white ink in the same pass. The main disadvantage is that most machines with this capability are limited to CMYK inks.

I have never had one made so it could be UV, their ads looked like sublimation. UV printing can give some interesting results, especially from the texture. No idea what it would look like on the back of glass.

In sublimation there is a white coating on the back and the image is mirrored and transferred into this coating, it is viewed from the front.

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by Crookedhalo

Well, have to scuttle this idea - Forest River glued the glass into the doors so no way to get it out without damaging the doors AND I chatted with Fractured and they were not terribly encouraging about the idea, mostly because of what they put on the back of the prints for hanging.

Back to the drawing board!

Unless FR changed the way the glass is mounted it is quite easy to remove it. I removed the frosted glass from my door and replaced it with tinted glass. You need to work slow with a little pressure and patience.

[Crookedhalo]

Originally Posted by Scrapper

Unless FR changed the way the glass is mounted it is quite easy to remove it. I removed the frosted glass from my door and replaced it with tinted glass. You need to work slow with a little pressure and patience.

The glass I am speaking of is located in five cabinet doors in the living area of the rig. There is no holding mechanism on the back (in fact I can see that one of them is cut crooked, so my assumption is that they are glued with a construction adhesive of some sort, most of which do not give very easy

[Crookedhalo]

So I have ordered two acrylic photo prints in an 8x8 size that will hopefully fit right into the two blank squares on the picture below. The two blank spaces are also 8x8. Will most likely use Command type picture frame strips to mount (plans for now - may change). I have two similar spaces in the bedroom area...I'll update when I get them in.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by Crookedhalo

So I have ordered two acrylic photo prints in an 8x8 size that will hopefully fit right into the two blank squares on the picture below. The two blank spaces are also 8x8. Will most likely use Command type picture frame strips to mount (plans for now - may change). I have two similar spaces in the bedroom area...I'll update when I get them in.

Can't wait to see the pictures of them mounted on the wall.

[Crookedhalo]

Prints arrived today - they look very nice .

Hopefully will get them in rig this spring - it's too cold now for the adhesive to adhere well. Will update when it happens.

Merry Christmas all!!

[Crookedhalo]

UPDATE: I installed the Acrylic Prints today and they look great! Only thing is that if I want to remove them in the future, they won't come out easy - but the look is what I wanted. My husband had to trim one of the prints just a hair because since FR builds the cabinets themselves one of the squares wasn't quite true .

Below are pics of the prints.

[Crookedhalo]

I also orders some framed prints from MixTile and mounted them with command picture hangers. Turned out pretty good - I'll post some below (I've still got a few more to hang). Overall, I'm happy - I found some alternatives to allow pics to be displayed. Makes the rig look a bit homier .