Our Story

Owners Randy and Edelia

In the early 1980’s Randy Willis was Rayzist Photomask’s first hired employee. Randy was a former underground miner and accustom to hard work. His hard work was necessary for the two-man team to introduce photoresist films to the sandcarving market. His wife Edelia and their children would soon join him at Rayzist Photomask. In 1995 Randy and Edelia acquired ownership of the company.

Rayzist started as a photoresist film manufacture and remains a manufacturer today of sandcarving films and equipment. Rayzist Photomask created the first photoresist film and sandcarving system for this industry 35 years ago. Today we proudly manufacture our sandblast films, sandcarving systems and automatic washout systems in Vista, California.

A strong family with great vision, hard work, sacrifice and faith in God is the foundation of which Rayzist Photomask was built. Rayzist started with 2 employees and today has over 55 employees. Rayzist is still very much a family-based business. Randy and Edelia built a foundation of customer service, integrity and quality products making Rayzist Photomask the company it stands today.

The Original, First Ever Photoresist Film

Custom Photoresist Stencils

In 1983, Rayzist Photomask started selling Ray’s invention of Custom Photoresist stencils to cut crystal and decorating facilities.

The goal was to equip the etching industry with a high quality stencil that did not have to be weeded and actually achieve depth in glass. The Photoresist film was originally a gold color.

Why the name Rayzist?

The name “Rayzist” was created in 1984 by Ray Zukowski, the founder of Rayzist. When he developed the first-ever photoresist film, he also created the name of the company. Ray combined his name with “zist”, from the term “sand resist film”, the company name was formed “Rayzist.” Rayzist name is a household name to those in the sandblasting and engraving industry.

1983

Humble Beginnings

Like many great businesses Rayzist began in a garage in Tucson, Arizona

In 1983, Rayzist open the doors to our first building. Edelia would manage the front desk and their teens at the time stepped in and helped process orders after school.

1986

Manufacturing Begins

In 1986, Rayzist Photomask set out to expand manufacturing products and produced a quality line of sandcarving systems for the crystal etcher.

At the time etchers were using industrial sandblast systems which did not have visibility during etching and were designed for industrial needs, not ideal for crystal sandcarving.

1983

First Sandcarving Workshop

Rayzist Photomask generated the path for people to start their own sandcarving business with education. Our First Sandcarving Workshop was held in Vista, California. Randy’s office was used as a classroom to accommodate the first 7 students that attended. Our goal from the beginning was to equip business owners with knowledge on producing photoresist stencils and creating etched products. Education for the sandcarving industry has always been at the heart of the company.