Cutting a pattern into flat glass with a rotating stone wheel, the cuts are then smoothed with polishing powders using a felt wheel. See also gilding, signwriting and reverse glass sign painting.

Brilliant cutting would have been common in the UK in the nineteeth century, with most towns boasting cut glass craftsmen, gilders and signwriters.

Brilliant cut glass is associated with traveller and fairground culture and communities. It is also synonymous with the British pub and pub culture.

• Crystal glass
• Sign painting / signwriting
• Reverse glass sign painting
• French embossing / acid etching
  .

• The craft is labour intensive which puts people off learning it. It takes dedication and a lot of time to hone your skills.
• The grindstones used to brilliant cut glass are principally of aluminium oxide, although historically they were made of sandstone from Craigleith in Edinburgh. Diamond impregnated wheels can be useful for roughing out. For some years it was difficult to source the wheels, however, there is now a source of new grinding wheels in the UK which is making the craft more accessible again.
• The high cost of the materials and labour compared to the low cost and high speed of computer designed vinyl graphics reduces the number of clients willing to commission work.

• Dreiser, P, and Matcham, J, (1982) The Techniques of Glass Engraving (London: Batsford)
• Duthie, Arthur Louis, (1982) Decorative Glass Processes, 1908 (London: Dover reprint)
• Frost, AC, and McGrath, R, (1961) Glass in Architecture and Decoration (London: The Architectural Press)
• M Girouard, M, (1984) Victorian Pubs (Yale University Press)
• B Stewart, B, (1983) Signwriting; a craftsman’s manual (Wiley-Blackwell)