Vitraglyphic – 3D Printing in Glass

A Working Definition:

Vitraglyphic  is a form of rapid prototyping or solid free form fabrication.  In this process developed at the University of Washington, finely powdered glass (or glasses) is (are) mixed with any set of a variety of powdered adhesive materials.  The resulting mixture is loaded into a 3D printer.   The printer deposits a binder into the powdered mixture in the areas where the object exists within the build space (or an anti-binder into the areas where the objects is absent).  Once the object has dried (or set), it is then sintered via a kiln firing process at the appropriate temperature.  The sintered object could then be post-processed to apply a variety of finishes.