A processing approach has been identified and reduced to practice in which a residual stress profile can be designed such that cracks in a brittle material are arrested or grow in a stable manner. In the approach, cracks in the body encounter an increase in the magnitude of residual compression as the crack propagates. If correctly designed, the process increases strength and significantly decreases strength variability. This approach was demonstrated for a silicate grass, and multiple cracking was observed as a forewarning of the final failure. Normally, such glasses would fail catastrophically with the propagation of a dominant crack.