I'm Etching, Baby!

So you remember my post a while back on how I wanted to etch my own glassware for Mr. S and I to use at the wedding? Well...I finally got a minute to try it out last night, in between baking my very first batches of cake pops:

MMMMMMM! I've gotten rave reviews at our work food day today - Personal Image

More on that process in a later post. Right now I'm getting down to my first experience in glass etching. I started with the following items:

• Armour Etch Cream - $8.99 at Hobby Lobby + 40% off coupon = $5.39
• Foam Brush - around $.50 at Michael's (I bought 2 just in case)
• Contact Paper - $1 at Dollar Tree
• Xacto Knife - already had one
• A printout of what I wanted on the glass
• Gloves to protect your hands (that shiz will burn!) - Handsome FI got from work for me:)
• Glass product of your choosing

Here is what my printout looked like:

Personal Image & Design

A quick tip: I originally tried to use our monogram but the fact that there were too many loops and cut-outs made it impossible to do correctly. I created the above design and cut out the black areas instead. This allowed the uncut parts to still be connected and not just fall right off.

I laid my printout on top of a small piece of the contact paper. Using my Xacto, I cut out the black areas. When I try this again, I will print my design on thicker cardstock and cut that out, then trace the design onto the contact paper and cut it separately. I had a lot of jaggies when I cut through the printout and the contact paper.

Once I had everything trimmed out, I peeled off the backing of the contact paper, and stuck it to my wine glass. Other than it being a bit bigger than I thought, it worked pretty well. A little tough to line up though!

I think it's straight?! - Personal Image

Next, I put on my gloves and started glooping on the etching cream with the foam brush. I had read online that you really need to coat it on there good for best results. So I did.

Gloopin' it on - Personal Image

Once I had it pretty well glooped on there, I let it sit for a few. Then I noticed that it had started to drip toward the edge of the contact paper on the sides. I couldn't have that! So I started brushing it off a bit. After a few minutes of that, I decided I might as well just take it off and see how it turned out. Since I couldn't remember how long to leave it on, and the bottle had no good instructions on it, I wiped off the cream with the foam brush and put it right back in the bottle ($5.39 for 3 ounces?? you better believe I'm saving that stuff!).

Then I slowly started lifting off the contact paper. I immediately ran water over it in the sink and started wiping the excess off with a paper towel. This seemed to work pretty well. I dried my glass, and stood back to look at my masterpiece.

Ta-da! Not too shabby! - Personal Pic

Close up, you can see the jaggies from my not-so-good cutting - Personal Image

All in all, I think the first go round was pretty successful. The etching looks pretty good even leaving it on for a total of only 5 minutes or so. I'm glad I have plenty of wine glasses to practice on! For a total investment of under $8, I will (after some perfecting) have some lovely glasses for us to drink out of on our wedding day!

Did you have any DIY projects you were successful with on the first try?

Happy planning!

Miss Spaghetti