An Acrylune piece is a portrait sculpted in glossy cut glass, shaped into a relief and sealed inside a crystal-clear acrylic frame with polished edges, on four corner standoffs. Sizes are 30 × 30 and 50 × 50 cm. The design is Tedooo's, drawn from your photo; we cut, letter, seal and polish it, in 32–36 days.
The specifics
- Portrait
- Glossy cut glass, in relief
- Frame
- Clear acrylic, polished edges
- Fittings
- Four corner standoffs, ready to hang
- Sizes
- 30 × 30 or 50 × 50 cm
- Lettering
- Glossy black, raised
- Name
- Up to 20 characters, optional, on a piece made from your photo
- Quote
- Up to 80 characters, on two or three centred lines
- Design
- Drawn by Tedooo technology from your photo, in about a minute
- Made in
- Our studio: cut, lettered, sealed and polished by us
- Delivery
- 32–36 days, about five weeks door to door, tracked end to end
- Price
- From $149 for a 30 cm portrait; the live price shows before you pay
- Returns
- Made for one person, so not returnable
How a piece is made
Drawn
Your photo goes in on the create page, and Tedooo technology draws the portrait as a cut-glass design, usually in about a minute. It reads the face, the eyes most of all, then any name or line you added. It is free, and no card is needed.
Approved and checked
You approve the design on screen, then payment is taken by Tedooo at its checkout. That is the first moment anything is charged, and cutting waits for the order to clear. Once it has, we lay the design beside your photograph and compare them before the cutting begins.
Cut
The portrait is cut in glossy glass. This is where the design stops being a picture and becomes pieces of material, each one a part of the face that will stand up off the panel.
Shaped
The pieces are built up into a relief, piece by piece, with the eyes last. The relief is what gives the portrait its depth, its own small shadow, and the way the light moves across it.
Lettered
If you asked for lettering, it is set under the portrait in raised glass: a name no longer than 20 characters, or a quote no longer than 80. On a quote panel the lettering is the whole piece, in glossy black.
Sealed and polished
The relief is sealed inside a crystal-clear acrylic frame, and the edges are polished last, so the four sides are as clear as the face. From here on you only ever touch the acrylic.
Fitted and packed
Four corner standoffs are fitted, so the piece arrives ready to hang. It leaves our studio in a box with corner guards and a tracking number, and most addresses see it inside five weeks or so.
What is an Acrylune piece made of?
Glossy cut glass for the portrait, crystal-clear acrylic with polished edges for the frame, and four corner standoffs to hang it from. The lettering, where there is any, is raised, and on a quote panel glossy black.
Those are the parts, and there are no others on the piece: nothing printed, and no mount or border between the relief and the clear frame. The wall shows through the acrylic around the portrait, and the light goes straight through the panel. The guide to what it is made of takes each part in turn.
Why cut glass rather than a print?
Because a print behind a sheet of plastic is flat, and a relief is not. The cut glass stands up off the panel, throws its own small shadow, and the light moves across the face as you walk past.
A print has one surface and looks the same from every angle. The relief has many, and each edge of the glass catches the light differently. Sealing it in clear acrylic and standing it off the wall on four corner standoffs is what lets the light go straight through the panel.
How do I look after it?
Dust the acrylic with a soft dry microfibre cloth. Keep glass cleaner, alcohol and paper towels away from it: they cloud the clear acrylic and leave fine scratches. Hang it out of hours of strong direct sun.
The glass relief and the lettering are sealed inside, so they need nothing. The care guide has a table of what to use and what not to, and the hanging guide covers the wall.
How is it packed and sent?
In a box with corner guards, its four corner standoffs already fitted, with a tracking number. Most addresses see it inside five weeks or so, and your order's estimate appears on the page before payment.
Whatever shipping and duties apply to the address are added at checkout, so the total is in front of you before you pay. If it is a gift, give the recipient's address at checkout and it ships to their door, not yours; for Christmas, order by 15 November. It carries a tracking number, and the order-tracking link at the bottom of every page follows it.
What is not in it?
No print, and no photograph behind a sheet of plastic. A ready-made piece carries nobody's name, and a name on your own piece is there only if you asked for one.
Your photograph is not in it either, beyond the design drawn from it: the file exists to produce your design and to check the cut against; it is not passed on, not posted anywhere, not fed to any model, and it is removed the day the order closes. The design you approve on the create page is what gets made.
Questions this leaves
Is the design drawn by a person?
The design is drawn by Tedooo technology from your photograph, in about a minute, and you approve it on screen. The making is ours: the glass is cut, shaped, lettered, sealed and polished in our studio, and we lay the design beside your photograph and compare them before the cutting begins.
Can I see the glass before it is sealed?
The design you approve is what gets made, and the piece arrives sealed and polished with its corners protected. If you want to know more about a stage of the making for your piece, write to us; a human reads it and replies, normally within the day.
Is a quote panel made the same way?
Yes, without the drawing: a quote panel is one of twelve ready-made lines in glossy black raised lettering, sealed in the same clear acrylic frame on the same four corner standoffs, made to order and packed the same way. No photo is needed.
Why is it not returnable?
Because it is cut for a single person from one photograph, and the approved design is what gets made. Hence the sequence: redraw, free and without limit, until it is right; say yes on screen; and only then does the card come into it, at Tedooo's checkout.