Saturday, November 27, 2010

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!

19 comments:

  1. Looks great! I haven't heard back from your mom about using the Cricut. Does she plan on doing it the old fashioned way too? ;o)

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  2. I LOVE your votive holders! Those look amazing! Makes me want to get out my etching cream and make some things for myself! All of mine were made as gifts, lol. Isn't that how it always goes? Thanks for the feature!

    Brandy

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  3. These have turned out really good. I have always wanted to try glass etching. This gives me the inspiration to try it.

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  4. That looks great. Someday I gotta try glass etching.

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  5. These are so cute. I just did my first glass etching last week. It was a lot easier than I thought.

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  6. So cool! I have been wanting to try this ever since I saw Sherry do it on YHL. Thanks for the tutorial :)

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  7. Great votives! I just love the etching cream! So many possibilities!

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  8. They look great!! I've never tried etching cream...but now I'm 'itching' too. :P

    I crack myself up. :)

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  9. Very cool! Love 'em! Fab job!
    Thanks for linking up to Making It With Allie! I can't wait to see what you have for next week!
    AllieMakes.Blogspot.com

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  10. This is beautiful! We would love for you to link this craft up too!! http://trulylovelywiththelaneysisters.blogspot.com/2010/12/fancy-this-fridays-edition-1.html

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  11. Those look great! I love the shadow that it casts on the wall. If you have the time, I would love to have you link these up to my Christmas Party! :) http://www.polishthestars.com/2010/12/christmas-link-party.html

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  12. Great job, I have wanted to do this for years but was never game, I might try it for the hot chocolate bottles I am doing for presents!

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  13. I have always been a little nervous to try glass etching but just need to go for it! Thanks for linking up to Beyond the Picket Fence's Under $100 Party.

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  14. These are lovely. I just made some candy jars myself and etched in a star on the top...had to just use stickers as it's hard to find vinyl here. Might just have to hunt some down for another project. Thx for sharing

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  15. This looks like a fun project. I think I would really like to try this.

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  16. Wow, that looks easy! I need to try it out.
    Thanks for sharing!

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  17. I just wanted to let you know that I featured your project! :) http://www.polishthestars.com/2010/12/christmas-party-features.html

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  18. what a great Idea!

    Newest follow on GFC, Check us out at
    http://closertolucy.blogspot.com/

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  19. Beautiful presentation! I love this site very much. Thanks....

    Personalized Glass

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