Home » DIY » outdoor living » Glass Etching

Glass Etching

ByGail Wilson Published on Updated on
119 Comments

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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.

glass totemI 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

friends are the flowersThe 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.

etching-cream-vinylCan you see the words? It’s tough to see white on white.

Apply Stencil

etching-cream-vinyl-appliedI 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

spreading-etching-creamThere 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

use-a-qtip-remove-excessThere 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

scrape-excess-etching-cream-into-botteI scraped the excess etching cream back into the bottle, it’s reusable. It’s best to do this outside (away from pets and plants).

rinse-etching-creamCarefully, 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!

glass-totem

garden-totemI 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

See more repurposed glass project ideas here

Gail Wilson is the author and mastermind behind My Repurposed Life. She is obsessed with finding potential in unexpected places and believes that with a little hard work and imagination, any old thing can be made useful again, including herself!
Gail reinvented herself during a midlife crisis and has found purpose again. She hopes you will find new ideas for old things and pick up a few tools along the way.

119 Comments

  1. i am amazed at all the things that i could do with the silhouette/cameo,vinyl,glass etching,inking,,,what else,hmmmm,blinging,,,,,, wow i need the eiching kit!!!!! Endless possibilities:)

  3. I have been wanting to etch a number of things, including glass wear, a table, and a mirror to go in my Louisville Cardinal room.

  4. I have seen etching creams before, but was reluctant to try it because wasn’t sure if they worked or how hard they would be to use. Thanks for showing us this. First thing that came to my mind to use it on, was a candy jar. And I like the idea of using them on platters or baking dishes to use as gifts.

  5. I am working on a “family tree” gallery in my house, and I would really like to put each person’s name on the glass of each picture with vinyl and having a Silhouette would make this so much easier and nicer looking.

  6. The possibilities are endless with the portrait! I would love to use the stamping tool to make stamps for clothing for my daughter. I would also love to use the vinyl cutting tool to create labels and organize things in my kitchen. I would use the etching tool to create fun patterns on vases. I have tried to do it freehand but it is always a mess and never looks that great!

  8. P.S. The rafflecopter says the raffle ends in 33 days and 19 hours rather than 3 days and 19 hours. Just thought you might want to know.

  11. I would love to have the Silhouette portrait because I still have the Silhouette SD…it’s high time for an upgrade! I would love to create some beautiful glass etching on mason jars for sugar and salt scrubs. Those are great give aways for the holidays and great for birthday gifts too! I can see it now…”Sweet Brown Sugar Scrub” and “Luscious Lavendar Salt Scrub”.

  12. I have been thinking of getting each of my cats their own personalized plate, so that’s what I think I would make.

Comments are closed.