Glass Etching
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Doing glass etching on various projects is a great way to personalize gifts. It’s fairly easy to do, but you do need to be very careful with the etching cream.
I had this glass totem that I made over a year ago. I googled to find a garden phrase and found “Friends are the flowers in the garden of life”.
Decide on a stencil
The image was designed in my Silhouette Studio Designer Edition. I was cutting this out on my Portrait, so I did it in two different cuts. After I cut it like this, I rotated it to cut the other half. Note: the “g” in garden, I didn’t make my outer most circle quite big enough.
Can you see the words? It’s tough to see white on white.
Apply Stencil
I actually ended up cutting out one word at a time and applied it without transfer paper. Because I do stenciling all the time, it was easy for me. This vinyl is VERY sticky and a little difficult to re-position. After applying each word, I transferred the oodles and boodles. (insides of the letters)
Spread etching cream with plastic knife
There were a couple of places I had to “patch” with a small sliver of the vinyl—where the letter was too close to the edge, and where the two words didn’t come together perfectly. I didn’t want the etching cream to bleed though the edges of the stencil.
After donning rubber gloves I used a plastic knife to apply the etching cream to the stencil.
Use a cotton swab to clean up smudges
There were a couple of places I got too close to the edge, and used a Q-tip to clean it up.
Rinse Etching Cream with garden hose
I scraped the excess etching cream back into the bottle, it’s reusable. It’s best to do this outside (away from pets and plants).
Carefully, I rinsed the etching cream off with the hose. I have used etching cream before and learned the hard way that you shouldn’t rinse it in your sink. When you have a porcelain sink the etching cream can leave visible damage.
Admire your glass etching project!
I love how this glass etching turned out! There are so many applications for glass etching. Think candy dishes, dog/cat treat bowls, oh and I did glass etching on a baking dish for jamie years ago.
gail
I would love to etch some bottles to go in my vintage bathroom.
Hi Gail, I have a pinterest board full of silhouette projects! I would etch cheese/cake cloches. Thank you for hosting!
I make bird feeders from glass plates and I would use this to etch designs and words on them. It would make them so awesome. Also Christmas and wedding presents, galore!!!
Melissa
I love the idea of glass etching, never tried it but definitely will if I with this puppy :). Great little gadget!!! Perfect for the holidays coming up.
I love your project! I’d would love to etch my old window that I found at an antique store.
Thank you so much for the giveaway. I would love to etch vases for wedding presents. But I would also create scrapbook embellishments like a mad woman 🙂
Omgosh… I would soo love to win one of these..What wouldn’t I do with it..Signs, pillows I have so many ideas. As far as etching goes I would love to try it on some jewelry and my daughter is graduating from H.S this year so making her a shadow box with her cap and senior picture is on my to do list and etching on the glass would be awesome.
Thank you for all you share!
I have been wanting to etch! I have candle holders and vases from my wedding reception that I have always wanted to etch and give to loved ones as gifts.
I would etch my name onto a glass serving platter.
Would love to make some gifts for my sisters and mom etched with their names and filled with some homemade goodies from my garden!
I LOVE glass etching!! People are so impressed yet it’s so easy!!
If I were lucky enough to win this great giveaway (or if I magically had $269 to finally purchase one) I’d mostly use it to make signs, I LOVE signs!! The 1st sign I would make using the etching, would be a gift for my parents 50th wedding anniversary in Dec.