Glass etching!

OK so here is the glass etching project that I worked on last month for a wedding!  I wanted you share with you how EASY it was to do!  Did I mention it was also fairly inexpensive?  
You can use any glass item you wish.  Some ideas would be wine glasses, flower vases, plates, anything with a fairly flat surface.  Here I used some coffee mugs and root beer steins.

In addition to your clear glass, you will need a small bottle of Armor Etch or something similar, and a cheap brush like the one I have here.  You will also need your pattern or letters to be etched.  Do not use stencils from the store that are made for basic painting.  They won't work.  Take my word for it.  The etching cream will seep thru the edge of the stencil and ruin your design!  So, you want to either buy special "sticky" stencils specifically for etching or do what I did.  I used my cricut machine and used cheap contact paper instead of the vinyl sold for cricut.  It worked just fine and was only a few bucks!  You could also cut out your design using contact paper and an Exacto knife if you don't have a cricut machine.  Either way would work.  You just want your stencil to stick to the glass really well.  

Make sure your glass has been wiped clean, then apply your "sticky" stencil.  You want t make sure it is really on there well without any gaps or bubbles.  Press the edges down well. I cannot overstate this. If part of your edge comes up the cream will escape and well, you don't want that!  

If you have trouble getting the stencil to lay flat on a rounded glass, you can cut the edge of the stencil.  When it lays back down it will overlap itself and lay flatter.  Make sure it is pressed down well. 

You will need to tape off all around your stencil to make sure the cream does not get near the main glass area!  Trust me it will drip and it only takes a second to ruin the glass.  So tape it well!  Next you will take the cream and apply it THICK onto the  exposed area.  Thick thick thick!  With out dripping everywhere, but thick!  Notice the area on this "C" on the bottom left where I did not get it thick enough? You can still see the grayish glass show thru?  Well, you don't want this!  Trust me it will show up later!  You really need it to be globbed on thick :)

Here are 3 glasses that I did at the same time.  Notice they are really on thick!  OK, once you have the cream on set your timer.  7 minutes.  Some people leave it on more, some less.  For me 7 minutes was perfect!  

When your timer goes off it's time to get the cream off!  Now, you could just go rinse it off BUT this stuff can be used over and over!!  So take your brush and gently brush it off and back into the bottle!  Trust me, if you do this the bottle will last for many, many projects!  When you get all the cream back in the bottle it's time to rinse!

  Do not rinse in a porcelain sink!! It will ruin your finish!  Rinse in warm water.  It only takes a few seconds and it's clean!  Also, your stencil and tape should slide right off!  When it's well rinsed you can take a dry cloth and dry it well!  Tah dah!  That's it!  

Once you do this once you will be hooked!  Think of all the cool projects you could make for yourself or others as gifts!  Your friends will be so impressed with your new skill!

Here are all the attendant gifts I made for my friends wedding!  It really only took me a few hours to do all 24!!  The possibilities are endless!  Have fun giving this project a try and let me know how you like it!  

Here are some of my best girlfriends, along with my daughter (on far right)!  That's me in the middle back!  We got together and made these adorable candle holders with initials!