What to Expect with a Handmade Lucite Award
Carved, tinted, shaped, clear… Lucite is the perfect medium to create custom awards. Lucite has been in use since before the 1930’s and was sought after in WWll due to the clarity, strength, durability, versatility and impact resistant (safer than glass). It was used in canopies for planes, windshields and submarine periscopes. Lucite has a long and intriguing history.
We are often asked to explain the process and it is always reiterated that we are not making widgets and no two custom Lucite awards are alike. Everything we do is handmade. Really, each award is a handmade artisanal piece even if we make 500 of the same item. They are never precisely the same, as that is the nature of the Lucite embedment process.
Lucite Embedment Process
As one of the few Lucite awards manufacturers in Canada, here’s what we can tell you about the process of creating customized Lucite awards:
We purchase raw materials of liquid and powder, measure, mix, and cast into channels or molds.
We embed items into the Lucite by hand, sometimes a single piece and sometimes many, whatever the clients want embedded in the custom Lucite. Whether it is a piece of their product, screened acetates, printed cards, metal findings, badges – almost anything one can think of.
We put the Lucite piece into an autoclave under heat and pressure.
We then remove the Lucite from the molds and hand cut and shape each piece into the custom Lucite award the client requested.
The Lucite then goes through the process of hand sanding and two stages of hand buffing.
Finally, the Lucite is sent to our assembly department where it will be laser engraved, assembled, cleaned, bagged and boxed. All by hand.
When clients come for plant tours, even though they may have previously understood the process, they are impressed by the labour intensiveness that goes into making each award.
Handmade Artisanal vs. Uninspired Widget
It is next to impossible to create the perfect piece in terms of size or completely flawlessness. Even though we are diligent in keeping the embedding area as clean as possible, even the tiniest particles can rest in the Lucite and occasional particles from the powder do not melt as they should. This is why sometimes you can see tiny flecks inside the Lucite. Our quality control department meticulously watches for these and does not send out the ones we feel will take away from the award.
The recipients of a custom Lucite award receives more than an award, they receive a one-of-a-kind handmade artisanal piece. In choosing a medium that is so versatile and an award idea that presents an unparalleled opportunity to be unique and customize with whatever you can think of, you are choosing non-conforming pieces. These are not mass-produced, uninspired widget-like awards; they are hand-made opportunities for complete creativity and customization. A custom Lucite embedment is the perfect award piece for a deserving recipient.