My First Stab at Glass Etching!

So, I recently found out I could use my Cricut to cut a stencil out of vinyl and then stick it to any piece of glass and use this special "etching cream" (aka acid) to etch my design on the glass!  Obviously, I was dying to try it out.

Things you will need:

Ok, so you don't need a Gypsy, but I found it incredibly useful.  And I used Armor Etch cream, which worked really well!

The glass product that I was going to use were some stemless wine glasses that I found at Marshall's on the cheap.  But Bryan and I rarely ever drink wine, so making them for us would have been quite a waste.  Instead, I decided to make them for his parents!

First I created a design using my Gypsy that revolved around their last initial (N):

Then I cut the vinyl (I'm pretty sure I had my blade at 5 - a regular blade, not deep cut - and the pressure at high):

Then I discovered that I could hold the glass perfectly with my feet:

And I put on my stencil:

And then I dabbled on the etching cream (don't paint it on, because you might get some of the cream under the stencil and that would suck).  Beware to not touch the etching cream - it is a highly abbrasive acid based cream (duh, it etches glass) and you don't want to get it on your skin!!!

Make sure the area is generously covered with the cream.  If it isn't it turns out pretty crappy.

Then I did this to the other three glasses:

And I waited!  From what I've read online, 10 to 15 minutes is more than enough time to let the cream do it's thing.  While I waited, Charles enjoyed having crafting supplies out because that means there are open boxes for him to chill in:

When enough time had passed, I brought the first one into our laundry room and washed off the cream, removed the stencil, and dried it off.  I'm not gonna lie, the first one kind of sucked, so I went and added more cream to the other 3 and waited some more before cleaning them off.  But they turned out great!!!

I'm very excited about this!  I think (after some more practice) I'll be personally designing and etching our toasting flutes for the wedding!

And it just so happened that yesterday Bridesmaid Shannon gave birth to her second son, and I had purchased a glass frame from Marshall's.  When her husband sent me a text with a picture of the precious little guy I decided to make them a frame.  This picture sucks, but I love how it turned out!  And I can't wait to go give it to them later today when I visit them at the hospital! (It says his full name on the top, and on the bottom it says his birthday with a rattle on either side):

What do you think?  Personally, I think with some practice this could be the perfect all occasion gift to give!  Happy Birthday...here's this mirror that I made specially for you.  Congrats on getting married, here are these hand-crafted glasses.  Merry Christmas, enjoy this personalized glass bakeware...the possibilities are endless!