Acrylic, Glass, and Tempered Glass: Photo Gift Materials
By Giftenova Team – Last updated May 25, 2026
Picking a photo gift comes down to material at least as much as design. A custom photo gift can be a lightweight acrylic block on a desk, a heavier glass block with a 3D engraving inside, or a printed tempered glass panel hung on a wall, and each is a made-to-order personalized photo gift built around your photo on a different substrate. These are not three versions of the same product. They are three photo-gift material families at different scales: acrylic for lightweight tabletop keepsakes, K9 optical glass for crystal-style tabletop blocks, and tempered glass for wall-art pieces. This article maps each material to its scale and use case so the buyer can pick by where the gift will live, not just by what it looks like.
A naming note before going further: Giftenova calls the tabletop glass product a 3D crystal photo block because that is the customer-facing product name. Materially, it uses K9 optical crystal, a clear optical glass. The article refers to the material as "K9 optical glass" or "K9 crystal" when discussing chemistry, and as "3D crystal photo block" when referring to the actual product on our personalized photo gifts category.
Three material families at different scales
The three materials below show up in different parts of our catalog because each one suits a different scale. Acrylic shows up at tabletop scale across many photo block and plaque formats; K9 optical glass shows up at tabletop scale as one product, the 3D crystal photo block; tempered glass shows up at wall-art scale across custom and ready-made designs in the wall arts category, not the photo gifts category. Our personalized photo gifts guide covers the broader photo-gift category context if you want the overview before comparing materials.
The reason this matters: a buyer trying to pick the right material for a photo gift usually has a specific use case in mind (a desk piece, a centerpiece block, a wall panel), and the right material follows from the use case more than from the material's standalone properties. A definitional pass on each material first, then a side-by-side and a decision matrix once the three substrates are clear.
What is acrylic in a photo gift?
Acrylic in our catalog is cast PMMA (the chemical name for the clear plastic commonly sold as acrylic). The photo is UV-printed on the back surface of the acrylic and viewed through the front face, which gives a subtle depth effect because the light passes through the acrylic before hitting the print and reflecting back. Some acrylic plaque formats use laser-engraved text or designs instead of (or in addition to) the printed photo.
Acrylic shows up across multiple product categories in our photo gift line: tabletop photo blocks (the canonical acrylic photo block), occasion plaques (anniversary, graduation, song plaques), nameplates, sound-wave art, and pet memorial pieces. Block depth across the line runs roughly 20 to 30 mm, which gives the finished block a substantial freestanding presence on a shelf or desk.
Most acrylic plaque designs are made-to-order from your uploaded photo and a short dedication you add at checkout. Acrylic is the only one of the three materials in this article that is a plastic; the other two (K9 crystal and tempered glass) are glass substrates at different scales.
What is K9 optical glass (the "crystal" product) in a photo gift?
K9 optical glass is a lead-free clear optical glass used for premium engraved keepsakes. The industry sells this material under the "crystal" label because the polished, lead-free optical glass produces the visual depth that customers associate with crystal. Materially it is glass; commercially it is sold as crystal. Both terms describe the same substrate in our catalog.
The photo integration is different from acrylic. Instead of printing the photo on a surface, the source photo is converted into a 3D model and laser-engraved INSIDE the block as a cloud of tiny dots that form the image when viewed at the right angle. Light passing through the polished glass makes the engraving visible with a dimensional effect, which is the visual the "3D crystal" name describes. An optional LED light stand adds warm under-lighting that makes the engraving glow softly in a dim room.
Our 3D crystal photo block is the single SKU in this material family. It comes in two shapes (rectangular block and heart block) and pairs with an optional LED light stand at checkout. The block has the weight in hand that buyers associate with a centerpiece-grade keepsake.
What is tempered glass in a photo gift?
Tempered glass is heat-treated glass, processed for shatter resistance compared to standard annealed glass. The panel thickness across our custom tempered glass wall art line is 4mm. The photo is UV-printed on the back surface of the panel and viewed through the glass face, which delivers the high gloss and deep color saturation that defines tempered glass wall art as a category.
Tempered glass in our catalog is wall-scale only. It is not used as a tabletop format because the heat-treatment process and the surface-print-and-mount workflow suit panel scale rather than block scale. Our custom tempered glass wall art takes your uploaded photo and prints it on a tempered glass panel with stainless-steel standoff hardware included for floating-frame wall mounting. Both custom and ready-made tempered glass wall art designs are available across the wall arts category.
The buyer signal for tempered glass: the recipient has wall space rather than desk or shelf space, and the gift is intended as a display piece visible from across a room. A tempered glass wall panel reads at scale and from distance in a way no tabletop block can; a tabletop block reads up close as a handheld keepsake in a way a wall panel cannot. The two formats serve different gift moments.
Care basics across the three materials are similar: wipe clean with a soft microfiber cloth and a mild non-abrasive cleaner; avoid paper towels or anything gritty on the polished surfaces. Indoor display is the default use case for all three.
Quick comparison: three materials side by side
The three materials sit alongside each other on this set of attributes:
| Attribute | Acrylic | Glass (tabletop) | Tempered glass (wall art) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Material chemistry | Cast PMMA (clear plastic) | K9 optical crystal (lead-free clear optical glass) | Heat-treated annealed glass |
| Customer-facing product name | Acrylic photo block, acrylic plaque, acrylic nameplate | 3D crystal photo block | Tempered glass wall art (custom and ready-made designs) |
| Typical scale | Tabletop block or plaque (small to medium) | Tabletop block (small) | Wall panel (medium to large) |
| Photo integration method | UV print on the back surface, viewed through the front face | 3D laser engraving inside the block | UV print on the back surface, viewed through the panel face |
| Handling feel | Lightweight for its size | Substantial in hand | Panel-scale wall piece |
| Display mode | Freestanding on a desk or shelf | Freestanding on a desk or shelf, with optional LED light stand | Wall-mounted with included stainless-steel standoffs |
| Catalog category | Photo gifts | Photo gifts | Wall arts |
The table is descriptive, not a verdict. The same attributes that make one material suit a desk piece make another material suit a wall piece. The next section walks through which use case favors which material.
When each material fits
The decision usually settles itself once the buyer knows where the gift will live and what scale the recipient has space for.
Pick acrylic when:
- The gift is for a desk, shelf, mantel, or bedside table where a freestanding lightweight piece sits well
- The recipient has kids or pets in the household and a lightweight tabletop piece is easier to place
- You want a specific plaque format (anniversary, graduation, song plaque, nameplate, pet memorial) rather than a generic block
- The gift is part of a multi-piece set (several plaques across rooms, or a small collection on one shelf) where lighter weight makes display easier
If those conditions hold, the acrylic line covers many formats and occasions. For the tabletop-only comparison between acrylic blocks and K9 crystal blocks specifically, our photo blocks and crystals buyer guide works through that two-format choice in detail.
Pick glass (K9 crystal photo block) when:
- The gift is meant to be a centerpiece tabletop piece rather than a wall display or a casual desk piece
- You want the 3D internal engraving effect that reads as a hologram-like image when light passes through the block
- The recipient has a dim room or wants the optional LED light stand for under-lighting
- The occasion calls for a heavier, premium-feeling tabletop keepsake (anniversary, retirement, milestone birthday, memorial)
If those conditions hold, the 3D crystal photo block is the single product in our catalog with this combination of material and process. The internal 3D laser engraving cannot be reproduced on acrylic or tempered glass; that production method is specific to optical-grade glass.
Pick tempered glass wall art when:
- The recipient has wall space and the gift is intended for wall display, not a desk or shelf
- You want the floating-frame look that the included stainless-steel standoffs deliver
- You want a UV-printed photo at panel scale, visible from across a room
- The occasion calls for a statement piece (a housewarming, an anniversary gift sized to a hallway, a memorial piece for a family room)
If those conditions hold, the tempered glass wall art line fits that use case. Our tempered glass photo wall art guide covers the wall-art format basics, and the wall arts category shows the full range of custom and ready-made tempered glass designs available.
When the use case is ambiguous (a recipient who has both desk and wall space, or an occasion that could land either way), the photo itself often settles it: a portrait fits a tabletop format more naturally, and a landscape or wide-frame photo fits a wall format more naturally because the panel scale carries the wider composition.
A second tiebreaker worth naming: how visible the gift will be in the recipient's daily routine. Tabletop pieces sit where the recipient sees them up close several times a day (a desk during work, a bedside table at morning and night, a shelf in a frequently used room). A wall panel sits where the recipient and any visitors see it from across the room but rarely pick it up. Acrylic and K9 crystal reward the up-close inspection; tempered glass wall art rewards the at-a-glance presence. If the recipient is the kind of person who picks up keepsakes and turns them in hand, lean tabletop; if the recipient curates their walls as part of how their space looks, lean wall art.
Scale also affects handling and placement: a small tabletop block can move to a different surface easily, while a wall-mounted panel commits to a specific spot. Production timing varies by current load across all three lines; the product page surfaces the live shipping window at checkout for any of the three.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 3D crystal photo block actually crystal or actually glass?
Both, depending on how you mean it. The industry sells lead-free polished optical glass under the "crystal" label because the visual effect matches what customers associate with crystal. The 3D crystal photo block on our catalog is made from K9 optical crystal, which is materially a clear optical glass. The product name uses the customer-facing "crystal" label; the material is glass.
Is acrylic the same as PMMA?
Acrylic is the customer-facing name for PMMA, a clear plastic used in many photo blocks and plaques. The two terms describe the same material; we use "acrylic" throughout the catalog and the article body.
Do you sell glass photo blocks?
We sell the 3D crystal photo block, which is K9 optical glass materially. We do not sell a separate product line labeled "glass photo block" because the K9 product already covers that material category in our tabletop range. If you searched for a generic "glass photo block" expecting a non-crystal option, the 3D crystal photo block is the closest matching tabletop glass product in our catalog.
Why is tempered glass only available at wall-art scale and not as a tabletop block?
The heat-treatment process and the surface-print-and-mount workflow suit panel scale rather than block scale. In our catalog, tabletop formats use acrylic or K9 crystal instead. Tempered glass sits at wall scale where the panel size and gloss carry across a room.
Can I get the same photo on all three materials?
Yes. The same source photo can be uploaded to any of the three product lines; the difference is the production process. Acrylic prints it on the surface; K9 crystal engraves it as a 3D model inside the block; tempered glass prints it on a wall-scale panel. Upload the highest-resolution version of the photo you have for the cleanest result in any of the three materials.