Thursday, January 12, 2012

A New Year, a new craft!

I guess technically, we did this in 2011.
New Year's Eve was here, and I essentially told Debbie that while the boys (big & little) played with all of their new gidgets/gadgets/guitars, we were going to etch glass! It wasn't hard at all, and luckily, she has a bunch of stickers, stamps and other scrapbooking supplies that we could use as templates.
Of course, I didn't take pictures during the process, or any pictures of her pieces - sorry! It's pretty easy though. I have a
pinboard dedicated to the process if you want more details and ideas than I give you here.


You will need:
Amour Etching Cream (this is fairly expensive, but I used a Michael's 40% coupon and got the big bottle for $17)


Various Glass items (I used my wine glass, and also went to the dollar store for vases and votive holders)

Safety gear like gloves, goggles and the like.

Glass Cleaner

Stencils, stickers, contact paper, masking tape

Crappy Paint Brushes

Exacto Knife (for cutting out designs in your contact paper/tape)

Newspaper

First, I would recommend not having kids or animals around, and a good level of sobriety. We did not have any of those things going for us.
Second, when applying the etching cream, do it under the ventilation of your stove if possible. It is fairly toxic stuff, but you'll be fine if you use your common sense.

Essentially, you decide what you want to etch, and where it's going to go. This was probably the hardest part for us. No, it definitely was the hardest part.
Using a stencil, or stickers, or a design cut out of contact paper or tape, you clean your glass, apply the design (sticker, stencil, whatever) and then apply the cream with the paint brushes. (This is when you use the safety gear)
Really put it on thick. I didn't on one side of my candle holder, and you can tell. (Don't forget to rinse your brushes)
Let it sit and dry. The bottle says five minutes, but we left it way longer.
Rinse and dry. At first it will seem like nothing happened, but then you'll see the design once it's completely dry (unless you didn't put the cream on thick enough).
Admire your creation!

Some pointers - as you can see, I went for the negative effect on my candle holder and wine glass base. I used stickers, and then applied the cream all over the glass & stickers. Once removed, the only thing not etched is where the stickers were. I didn't do a good job on the glass where the stem starts. I should have used a rubber band or something to create a crisper line there.
You could do the reverse, but you need to give yourself a buffer when applying the cream so it doesn't etch where it's not supposed to. Extra pieces of contact paper, or masking tape work well for this.

Also, you may want to work with an item that has flat sides, or isn't rounded (like the business part of a wine glass). It would be difficult (not impossible though) to get the sticker/stencil down flat so the cream doesn't go where it's not supposed to. Think smaller designs for those items.

Here's the rest of what I did:

See how the back side isn't cloudy? Cream wasn't thick enough.

I used contact paper on this one. It was a huge pain in the ass.
Now, what to put it it???

And of course, about a week after we did this, I broke my wine glass while drying it. Guess I don't know my own strength. Back to the Dollar Store I go!!!

4 comments:

lyn said...

Whoo hoo!! Look at you :^) Miss clever clogs!
These are fantastic Ang!!!
And the rubber band is a great idea for next time around.

Angie Simonsen said...

Thanks Lyn!!!
So manyt ideas, so little time, ya know? :^)

Gina said...

Finally got around to reading this, and it looks like it was a ton of fun. Enjoyed the comment about kids/pets/sobriety! You are hilarious as usual. LOVE the vase even if the contact paper was less than cooperative.

Angie Simonsen said...

It WAS fun Gina, and Jenda is still begging me to try it! She's a pesky little crafter!!! Thanks for the comment!