Wednesday, February 1, 2012

DIY: Glass Etching


All you need is:

Glass jar, or anything glass
Glass etching cream (I used Armour Etch)
Pencil
Exacto Knife
Contact paper (or vinyl stencils)
A round object to trace a circle (if you are doing a circle)

 Step 1:  Draw your design on the transparent side of the contact paper.  Not the paper side.
 Step 2:  Using the exacto knife, cut out your pattern and stick to the glass where you want it.  Here, I wanted the letter F and the circle around it to be etched.  In the other two jars you will see below, I etched the background and left the letters un-etched.  NOTE:  Clean the glass really well before doing this step.  It made a difference when I didn't!  
 Step 3:  Evenly coat the glass with the cream, and let it sit for around 5 minutes.  
 Step 4:  Wash off the etching cream (making sure to wear a glove!) then remove the stencil.  Below is my first etch.  I did some touch-ups where the cream didn't etch.  I think the problem was that I didn't clean the glass first.  
 Flour will go in the "F" jar, and sugar in the "S" jar.  The third jar has the kanji for "rice."  

6 comments:

  1. Wow these look great!
    Thanks for sharing :)

    http://missangelamarie.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! It was really fun to do.

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    2. I'm having some trouble with my etched products. I'm not exactly getting the results I wanted. How did you get the etching to look so white?

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  2. I would recommend Armour Etch. It's the only cream I've used and it seems to work pretty well. I would also recommend cleaning the glass really well before etching. I've also noticed that some glass etches better than others. It seems like super smooth, shiny glass has some sort of coating on it that the cream can't work through. Try experimenting with various glass items from thrift stores to get an idea for what works and what doesn't. It also has worked best when i try to etch small areas. The larger the area, the more spots show up that don't etch. Hope that helps!

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  3. where can i buy armorour etch????

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  4. Old glass objects won't etch well or usually not at all. I tried with some old baking dishes, but the glass has hardened over the years. Always start with new glass and clean it with some alcohol on a cotton ball after washing it in hot, soapy water and rinsing well. Keep finger prints away! I use my Silhouette Cameo digital cutting machine to cut out beautiful, intricate designs, and Armour Etch, which I buy at Michaels (I think all the craft stores have it) with a coupon. It's expensive. When it is time to remove the etching cream, scrape it off with a palette knife and put it back in the jar! You can re-use it! Then rinse.

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