Is there a front and backside to glass?
Absolutely! How can I tell which is which? In some products, it’s obvious, in others, less so. Generally speaking, the shinier side is the top or front side of the sheet. Rolled textures are always textured on the backside of the sheet.
Things to Consider with Texture
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- Privacy
- Ability to clean the glass
- Your comfort level of breaking glass
- Adding details to your design
Textured glass is easier to “cut” from the back side because it’s smoother. It’s almost impossible to cut accurate lines on the textured side. In this case the pattern is reversed so the cutting is done on the back (reversed).
Then the glass is flipped over when inserted into the panel during construction. This is assuming the customer wants the texture on the “inside” of the house.
Many artists who also painted on glass would have the texture on the outside and use the texture for shadowing and “texture” of the object.
Sheepskin for example in this window attached with close-up (church in North Carolina),
uses a textured glass but is painted from the backside to use the “bumps” in the glass to show the wool of the sheep.
So the correct answer (if there is one), is that it depends on the purpose of the final outcome. Some customers just want to be able to touch the texture.
I just did a Mid-Century Modern window (residence in California), where the customer wanted the “reed” and textured glass facing in, so he could feel it from inside his house. The finished project turned out beautiful!
