Glass etching

I found this great tutorial over at Gluesticks a couple weeks ago, and I finally got the chance to try it out! 

Glass etching is such a great way to make unique gifts for Christmas! In Brandy's tutorial, she made personalized glass jars to fill with candy. You could also fill them with hot cocoa mix, all the ingredients for cookies in a jar, ect. I'm currently on the look out for some plain glass bulbs to make Christmas ornaments! The ideas are endless.

What You'll Need:

A glass surface

Armour Etch

Paint brush

Vinyl or contact paper

Scissors or Cricket (or a Silhouette machine)

If you've got a Cricket or Silhouette machine, print out your stencil. If not, do it the old fashioned way! I printed off my words and pictures.

Trace your design onto your contact paper and cut it out. I'm doing a reverse stencil (just cutting out the words, and etching around them). 

Pull off the backing to your vinyl or contact paper, and carefully place it onto your glass. Make sure to squeeze out any bubbles. 

If you're doing a reverse stencil, make sure you make boundaries. I cut out strips of the contact paper, and put them around the top and bottom of the jar to make neat lines.

Put a nice thick layer of Armour Etch onto your glass. The thicker the coat, the better the outcome. I ended up having a couple spots that were missed, so I went back and touched them up. 

After the designated amount of time (about 5 minutes) wash off the acid (I scraped some of the acid etching cream back into the jar before rinsing). It'll look kinda funky while it's still wet, but once it dries you can see where the the foggy glass is. 

I love how it puts designs on the wall!

Here are some other GREAT ideas for glass etching!

Personalized cook wear (great for wedding showers!)

Cookie jars

Christmas ornaments

Drinking glasses

Shot glasses 

Candle holders

Wine glasses (would make a GREAT wedding gift!)