One of only five glass engravers left in Britain who uses the centuries-old technology of cutting using a copper wheel, Katharine Coleman walks us through her beautiful, intricate engraving process, to create a unique glass object inspired by our collections.

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Process:
00:00 Katherine Coleman
0:29 Sketching the design
1:15 Inspiration from the V&A’s glass gallery
2:04 Refining the Gingko leaf design and sourcing glass blanks
3:05 Drawing the design onto the glass blank and fixing using a diamond-tipped drill
4:02 Cutting away the background using sintered diamond wheels
4:40 Mixing a grit and oil paste, setting up the copper wheel
5:44 Engraving using the wheel
6:12 Pre-polishing the clear glass background using fine white corundum wheel and water drip
6:44 Polishing, marking out the detail, and cutting using small diamond-coated bur mounted in a spindle
7:06 Removing the permanent ink using methylated spirits with a brush
7:16 The finished piece

Find out more about our glass collections: https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/glass